This is why the talk of how 'we will love you till you can learn to love yourself' is cute but vacuous.
There is no shortage of love in the lives of alcoholics, addicts, and anons. In fact, the measure of this love is the extent and gravity of past harm to others: if they hadn't loved us, they wouldn't have been in the blast zone.
What does stop alcoholism? Ego deflation and the replacement of the ego with God.
What does ego deflation require? If ego is a balloon, it requires a prick.
What is the prick? Your sponsor. Your sponsor is the prick.
If you think your sponsor is a prick, you're right, but he or she is a necessary prick.