It’s not the level of alcohol intake that’s the issue. It’s the reasons behind picking up that drink that are the issue. Take two people – one has five drinks, the other only has one. The person who has five is motivated by nothing more then sociability and the desire to relax and have fun. The person who only has the one drink does so because they want to shut of a voice in there head that is destructive and could lead to other issues. Which of these two people is drinking destructively?
No matter how much you drink, if you only drink to escape your problems, and then crave it when you do not have it, you have a problem. You are not making a mountain out of a molehill, and you are doing the right thing in addressing what you fell is becoming a problem. It sounds like you have already identified that you are using different types of self-harm to fill a hole, or for the psychological release as you put it, and that the alcohol and other forms of abuse are the symptoms and not the cause (especially as they cancel each other out).
Carrying on the path you are on will not fight the root cause of your issues and may well escalate into a full-blown addiction. Trust me (I’m an old hand at this!), picking up that bottle (or whatever else) to escape your problems becomes easier and easier until it’s the only way you know. Fight the root cause of your problems. Everything else is smoke and mirrors.
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