nel68

My husband and I was talking about alcoholism the other day just trying to figure out why some peoples shut off switch goes off when it comes to alcohol....So we were wondering are you born a alcoholic??? Now my husband drinks but does not drink in the manner I did, he can have a few and stop. He is 14 years older then me and has drank for more years then me but I'm the one that drank or use to drink until I passed out cold,the past 15ish years....His parents did not drink but his grandpa did but I never heard them say he had a drinking problem...BUT! his family never really talks about stuff ......I know there is talk about people being predisposed of it, my mom never drank my dad did when he was younger got into trouble and quit, I don't remember him drinking daily like I did...My little brother has a problem with both drugs and alcohol it use to be alcohol but over the years its mostly been drugs....So do you think we are born alcoholic??? Just curious to peoples thoughts on how we become alcoholics.~~~158 days sober and love, love SR♥

Music

Hi nel. I don't know of any alcoholism in my family either. I never saw my parents drink often, only on special occasions when all the outlaws came for Thanksgiving or something and never saw them drunk. However, when I took my first drink, I fit the description of the "Real Alcoholic" as written in the Big Book. So, for me, I believe I was born with the pre-disposition of alcoholism so that all I had to do was pour in that first drink and the horse was out of the barn. Just my opinion.

caboblanco

Nobody is born an alcoholic as far as modern science knows. I don't know why people think there is a genetic predisposition to problem drinking. I have never seen any kind of proof for that. If people where born alcoholics we could give little kids a dna blood test to see if they were one then start them with alcohol awareness and counseling as soon as they could talk.

Easyrider

Like Music says I think some people will be genetically predisposed to alcoholism. But you have to exposed to it to become an alcoholic. A person could be born with this genetic predisposition and never come in to contact with alcohol, are they an alcoholic? I'd say no. Whether or not one drink is debatable, but I wouldn't rule it out. I personally think it is in my genes, I was also introduced to it very young, so I didn't stand that much of a chance!

nel68

Thanks Music ...You know I thought about when I first told my doctor about my drinking he asked me if I was sexually abuse and I was offended!!...But I was severely abuse for years by my dad. I never wanted to be that feel sorry for me person who drank because I was abused nor did I think that way...For me when I drank I felt good, happy, not that I'm not a happy person because I am but I felt really really happy when drinking. I wonder if things in life that we have gone through makes us unconsciously drink to ease the pain???.... Boy I have really been pondering a lot lately on the "whys of drinking/alcoholism" .. The one thing I have to say... everything I have gone through it made me a compassionate, understanding and have empathy for people in bad situation whether its abuse, drinking, whatever it may be.

choublak

It runs in families. I think all little kids in families where there is a history of alcoholism should be taught about alcoholism...with age appropriate material, of course.

jaybee1

Common sense would suggest otherwise. It clearly runs in families.

ru12

No I wasn't born an alcoholic: it took a lot of time and effort to become one though.

There is anecdotal evidence that it runs in familes: the question is why? Genetics or a learnt behavior from watching ones own family? Both perhaps.

Mountainmanbob

laurie6781

I do think that some are predisposed to be addicted.

I know there is a long long line of alcoholics on both sides of my family. My nephew has gone into and is involved in the research to find the X gene or factor in DNA that does predispose some to addiction.

I know for me, I was allowed to start drinking at home at 12 1/2. Why? Well I was very physically developed at that age and my Mom wanted me to learn how to control and enjoy my drinking so some fellow couldn't take me out and get me drunk and do what he wanted. Back in '57 it was alcohol not drugs that parents were concerned about.

I can tell you with that first drink I thought I had died and gone to heaven and I WANTED MORE!!

My sister, 10 years younger than me, had the same experience with her first drinks and decided to forgo drinking altogether especially as she saw what was happening to me. Her ex also came from an alcoholic family and he was not one, thus of their 4 kids one did become addicted (now in recovery for 6 years) another decided after getting his MD to go into the research to find out if there was something that could be done at birth, by finding the "X Factor", and the other 2 are normal.

Of my kids, 5 total, only 1 became addicted and he is sober and clean many years now.

Oh and my mother's brother, also younger than her became an alcoholic and 1 of his 3 children, is and 1 of his 3 grand children is.

So, in my experience, I do believe it is a predisposed condition.

Some say yes, some say no. I vote yes.

Love and hugs,

lilyrosemary

I believe that i was born an alcoholic. just as i was born very sensitive, creative and curious. I didnt have to learn these things, they were innate to my being.

ElegantlyWasted

The best/current scientific frame work for understanding does not fit neatly into a theory of everything nor soundbite answer. From my understanding...

The short answer is no!

The caveats and corollary are there though.

Like Music, I and many other had/have a different reaction than most other people to that First drink ever and that first drink of the evening. Is this genetic loading? Probably.
So the smart answer to me as other posters above have mentioned as well, is that some people are genetically activated to have major problems. Biological twin studies have consistently bore this out and there are some very good ones effectively controlling for all the social/environment variables that contribute. The Alkie gene has not been found and current scientific thought is that its more of a cluster genes interacting. But the anecdotal evidence is very very strong.

So No; people are not born Alcoholics. Just as some people are genetically predisposed to reach a 7 for height and play in the NBA other stuff needs to happen; proper nutrition, the right mentors coaching etc. For some of us taking that first drink ever is enough for some really bad stuff to happen.

kinzoku

I've always been told it runs in families, which would not surprise me seeing as my dad and his grandfather both have huge issues.

But even so it would just be a pre-disposition towards it not some deterministic force.

ElegantlyWasted

It's does... Genetic loading and Social Conditioning. Doesn't determine your fate; but makes it a heck of a lot more likely.

hypochondriac

I was fairly certain that there was scientific evidence that alcoholics process alcohol differently. I do have alcoholism in my family on my mothers side and she certainly has the tendency too but has managed to keep it under some sort of control. I think cultural factors play a bigger role than people in recovery usually tend to credit it with. But I also think I have an addictive personality. I have always been prone to excess.

Mountainmanbob

Suffering Under A Generational Curse?


Comments Off Posted by sandyvanasch on May 14, 2012

The egregious error that sin gives Satan license to inflict sickness is exacerbated by the further error that sin is carried down through the bloodline. Joyce Meyer made this explicit when she confessed to devotees, “There was a spirit of incest in my family bloodline.”

John Hagee is equally direct. “America’s history is filled with powerful fathers who amass great fortunes by bootlegging and greed and lust for power, destroying the lives of other people as they did that, and the result is that their children and their children’s children have lived in a constant state of unexplained tragedy. Why? Because of generational curses—the sins of the father are passed to the sons for 160 years. God said that, I didn’t”

Thus if you are sick, it may be directly due to your sins. On the other hand, the root of your sickness may stretch back to your great-great-great-grandparents. What that means, says Hagee, is that ”a father who is a liar, a drunkard, and a wife beater will have a son who is a liar, a drunkard, and a wife beater unless that generational curse is broken.”

Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) founder Pat Robertson is similarly disposed. When a woman named Patti agonized over the unusually large number of deaths in her family and the fact that her grandmother was even now dying of cancer, Robertson responded saying, “Sounds like you have a generational curse.” Robertson elaborated as follows:

I know that sounds a little spooky, but somebody back in your line may have been involved in the occult that may be witches, or they may be fortune-tellers, or they may have been involved in some fashion like that. Or there may be some gross sin back there that has never been atoned for. They may have injured some group, [in a] heinous way, and that thing is being visited on the children. So, what you need to do is to sever the bonds to the past, and you need to bind that spirit that has come upon you, assuming it is satanic; bind Satan and the forces of evil and commanding to leave your family alone. That’s what you need.

Do Faith preachers have a point? Can Meyer legitimately pawn off incest as a spirit passed down through her bloodline? Is it true, as Hagee contends, that a father who is a liar will have a son who is a liar unless that generational curse is broken? Did Robertson correctly diagnose the deaths in Patti’s family as sins from the past, un-atoned for in the present?



The Scriptures say otherwise. The Canon communicates that consequences—not curses—are passed down through the generations. It is in this sense that children are punished for the sins of their fathers “to the third and fourth generation” (Exodus 20:5). Nowhere is there biblical warrant for the offspring of drunkards or wife beaters to pawn off their ungodly behavior on curses passed down through the generations. Scripture explicitly tells us that “the son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son.” ( Ezekiel 18:20). Indeed, when ancient Israel quoted the proverb “The fathers eat our grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge” (v.2), God responded in no uncertain terms: “As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel . . . The soul who sins is the one who will die” (v. 3–4, emphasis added).

babycat

What I think is this. Some of us are born with the possibility of becoming alcoholics. And yes, I absolutely believe genetics are involved. Growing up in a richly happy Mormon household, where not a drop of alcohol existed ever and yet 2 of my 4 brothers and myself are addicts, how can I think otherwise.
Grandfather was alcoholic and I barely knew him.

Mountainmanbob

Alcoholism statistics encompasses data pertaining to who is addicted to alcohol, how their alcoholism affects their life and those who are close to them as well as how alcoholism affects society as a whole. In order to fully appreciate alcoholism statistics lets review what the term alcoholism means. Alcoholism is when the body becomes physically dependent on alcohol. It is a chronic long-term problem that many people struggle with for years, or even their entire lives. A person who suffers from alcoholism becomes obsessed with alcohol and feels as though they have no control over how much they drink. Their drinking typically comes before their personal health and it creates problems in their home life. It often causes the alcoholic to have serious issues at work or even to lose their job.

A majority of society is able to drink alcohol responsibly. They will consume alcohol in social situations and continue on with their day to day life with their alcohol use causing damage to themselves or those around them. On the other hand, some people are not able to stop or control their alcohol use. For these individuals, what was once a social experience becomes a way of life. Recent data from the National Institutes of Health reports that 15% of the people living in the United States are considered “problem drinkers.” Of this 15%, 5%-10% of the males and 3%-5% of the females could be labeled as alcoholics. Another study found that approximately 30% of people in the U.S. report experiencing an alcohol disorder at one point in their lifetime. Researchers from the University of California in San Diego have found that the lifetime risk of alcohol-use disorders for men is greater than 20%. They share that there is a risk of around 15% for alcohol abuse and 10% risk for alcohol dependence.

Dee74

Born an alcoholic? no.
I didn't start drinking in earnest until I was in my mid 20s.

but looking back at the child I was, the things that shaped me, and especially the way I responded, I think I was destined to become a drug addict and alcoholic, sure.

D

kinzoku

I also would like to add I think its clear certain people are wired for addiction just as much (and often linked to being) pre-disposed to depression or anxiety or compulsive behavior.

I don't think that this fact should run peoples lives or determine their fate in this world, but I you can just see it in behavior. And its something people work to overcome from young ages.