I think it is possible to perhaps "pull those roots out" as you say, but in doing so, you're basically looking at reformatting your hard-drive, so to speak. The personality that results from pulling them out, will likely be alien to who you are right now. I found one of the roots, I think, a terrible need instilled within me at an extremely young age, and I'm working on correcting that. It's a slow, arduous, excruciating process... but it's working, I think.

However, that doesn't mean that I could ever indulge again, because it would plunge me back into that need. It would most surely retard my progress, and I'm quite tired of that. Much of what I've discovered was on the edge of eruption for decades. That itself is extremely painful to cope with, because I could have spared myself so much misery, and probably would never have become an alcoholic to begin with.

But that's okay, because I'm doing well now. Not perfect, by any means, but well. And that's pretty damn funny to say when you're effectively homeless and destitute. But life is funny that way. The less you need, the more you have. Strange, no? <3