Why do we abuse alcohol/drugs?

Of course there are a lot of reasons why. There are many reasons that people begin to misuse alcohol, for example: 1. escaping pressures, problems, or relieving stress.
2. changing a bad self-concept.
3. forgetting loneliness.
4. boosting self-confidence.
5. masking unsatisfactory personal relationships.
But probably one of the top reasons that people abuse alcohol is to escape from themselves or a situation.

The problem could be that there are underlying issues that we've stuffed, or just decided we can’t change…so we self medicate.
One thing we have to be aware of is that pain and negative emotions serve a purpose – to signal a bad or uncomfortable situation – and make us aware that something needs to change! Drinking to deal with the “pain” only serves to keep us paralyzed or even make things worse.
So a solution is don’t waste anymore of our life by drowning our emotions. Be driven toward a better and brighter future rather than our own self destructive past.