Throughout the book Alcoholics Anonymous, this will be the common theme that "Willpower and self-knowledge will never help in the strange mental blank spots when we are tempted to drink. An alcoholic mentally is in a very sick condition. The spiritual answer and the program of action are the only hope. Only spiritual principles will solve our problems. "
They have several stories to augment the above theory. Bill story and the mini stories within the chapter "More about alcoholism" illustrate the above elaborately.
If you are struggling with staying stopped take a few minutes to read these stories. Bills Story is a classic story of how alcoholic struggles and see the progression of the disease more important, you can see how Bill staged a recovery.