My dad does the taking a couple of months off thing, he is not physically dependent, but he drinks a lot normally and it makes him miserable. It's a weird kind of dependence. Imo it's better to just avoid drinking when you're not with friends than doing the days off thing. Besides, I think that the fact that he does this tricks him into thinking he is fine when he isn't, it's just that he doesn't get any withdrawal because he is not physically dependent on it.