Originally Posted by Peter

I do not believe in the "genetic predisposition" to alcoholism either.

I know countless hours and considerable resourses may have been spent to prove this theory but none of it was conclusive.

I picked up my first drink because of the same reasons that millions of other people did........ curiosity.

As I child I wanted to discover for myself what this "mysterious potion" was that made the adults in my family who normally did not dance suddenly turn into giggling "Fred Astaires and Ginger Rogers"

I tried it again a few years later and continued doing it because of parties and peer pressure........plus by then I really liked it.

By the time I was nineteen I was hooked on alcohol, but not because of any "genetic mutation"

I was hooked on alcohol because of a "Physical Dependence" but I personally believe that what caused this "Physical a dependence" in the first place was a "Spiritual & Emotional retardation" Fear, Anger, Resentment, Lonliness, Boredom, Low Self Esteem,Things that may well have been there from childhood and long before the term "genetically predisposed to alcohol" was coined.

AA worked for me because it helped me to deal with what I feel is the root cause of my alcoholism even though those "Spiritual reasons" led to "Physical Symptoms".

Yes AA supports the "Disease of alcoholism" belief, but it has still been able to effectively treat the condition because the "dis-ease" is often Spiritual in origin.