Originally Posted by
iliveforyou 
Absolutely. I won't get into the debate on weather or not addiction is a disease, though.
I had several addictions in my early childhood, years before I ever picked up alcohol or drugs, that began when I was 12 years old. In the form of eating disorders and self mutilation. I was unable to deal with the pain of my incredibly abusive childhood and those things gave me a sense of control, something I was unfamilar with and desperately sought out. By the time I was 17, I had discovered alcohol and heroin which was my DOC. It gave me a way to escape from the reality and escape from the immense pain I held inside. I had (and still have) deep self hatred for many reasons and I thought I had found the "cure" to all of my problems. Though I was successful in doing the impossible - running away from myself.
I have stated in other posts, that alcohol, drugs, eating disorders and SI were not my real problems. My real problem was ME.
But anyways, yes. I was already prone to addiction at a real early age...
-Jess
Jess I appreciate your reply, but being that you had an abusive childhood wouldn't you think that your issues stemmed more for your circumstances rather than you being addiction prone? I agree that your past abuse and situations may have caused you to look for a mental escape, but should that situation really be considered "alcoholism", or should they be considered an enviromental/abuse problem that manifersted itself into a substance abuse problem to escape the pain?