Originally Posted by KittyP

The WHO just state what alcohol dependence is and how it effects people. They define it as a cluster of behaviours and physical effects that occur because of long-term alcohol abuse, they do not give a cause for that initial abuse because a physical cause has never, ever been found. The idea that some people are just genetically addicted to alcohol is still just that, an idea, as it has not been proved. At the moment the cluster theory it most likely, people abuse alcohol for psychological reasons and the abuse of the substance rewires their neural pathways causing the physical addiction. The fact that decades after the addiction ends the neural pathways seem to return to normal supports that theory.