I don't really think there's a guide for it. Physical dependency is the bigger deal I'd say, because it makes it feel nearly impossible to put down the bottle for a day. If you can make it a day or two without drinking before you falter, it's more psychological addiction.

And with being previously diagnosed with GAD, alcohol and downers all make sense as an addiction. Your body will recover without the alcohol, your nervous system will go back to the way it used to be for the most part (ignoring nerve damage caused by alcohol). And the recovery starts way sooner than you think it does. We were like this before we were drinking, shaky, anxiety ridden messes that couldn't get our brains to slow down. Alcohol made it worse, no doubt, but we were like this before we started drinking. We'll be returning to a shitty state, but it's still us.

From what we've talked about, I'd assume most of your addiction is psychological, even if you're physically dependent. Even ignoring the withdrawals, you're using alcohol to replace social and coping skills. Not saying anything bad about you, I'm an alcoholic too and had similar thoughts of "if I can get past the withdrawal it'll be fine" but now I've gone through the full withdrawal 3 times since February. Getting through withdrawal didn't make me less anxious or scared of people. The big reason I suggest psychiatric help is because you have good reasons to drink, and you need to have those needs met before you even stand a chance of getting sober. I mean if you get something for social anxiety that helps you, that's one less urge to drink yk? I got all those needs met with meds, but I'm still struggling to stay sober.