I have only vague memories of this, and can't cite the source, but (I think) I read an account of research on three forms of "treatment," one of which was AA, and the result was that all three had roughly equal success. I don't know whether the research covered the possibility of "simply the passage of time."
Purely anecdotal on dangers of "alcoholism." My grandfather almost never drank, but was a stereotypical "binge drinker"; He stayed with us once for the purpose of going trougt fishing, but got waylayed on his way to the stream by a village pool hall, and never got his line wet. He died when he went to a county fair, got drunk, walked across an alley without looking, and was struck by a car.
Carrol