I have 2 sons. My oldest son has a form of autism. He is high-functioning but had a LOT of behavioral challenges when he was younger. My husband traveled quite often for work, so I was not able to get many breaks from the kids. One particularly challenging evening, I called a girlfriend who was in a similar situation and asked her to talk to me until I could calm down, because I was ready to kill one or both of my kids. She asked me if I had any wine in the house. I laughed, I thought she was joking, but she was serious. She told me to drink a glass of wine and she'd talk to me for a few minutes. It worked! It took the edge off and helped me relax a bit. Ever since then, I made sure to keep some sort of alcohol in the house. Fortunately, my son has grown, matured, and learned, and alcohol has become less of a necessity and more of a pleasure to partake.
I never worried about being an alcoholic - there were many, many times I did not want a drink, and had to force myself to have at least a half-glass of wine. It's not good to be under so much stress for so long.