It is not at all pleasant when a friend passes away. It does not matter how long the person had been ill, how well “prepared” we might be for the death. It is, nevertheless, stressful.
What then becomes a crucial is how we cope with an issue, such as loss. Whenever someone close passes away, there is a loss; there is a vacant space in your mind, your heart.
We can cope with the death, the loss, in one of two ways. One way is to face the loss, and deal with it. This is the preferred method, and there are five basic stages to it: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. This is a process, and the length of time it takes varies with the individual involved.
Or, we can choose to avoid dealing with the issue, the loss, attempt to escape from something we might perceive as unpleasant. This is what is done by the dry drunk. It involves the use of some addictive behavior. An attempt is made to fill the void left by the loss, the death, with the behavior(s), instead of facing the reality of what has occurred, no matter how unpleasant that reality may be.