Are people born alcoholics ?
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Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2013
Location: california
Posts: 43
Are people born alcoholics ?
From the alcoholics I know alcoholism runs deep in there blood line . isn't it proved that if you have alcoholism in your history you are more likely to be one ? why do some people think the opposite...where do they get there logic ?
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Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Western ny
Posts: 388
When I was in detox the doctor asked me " who in your family has an alcohol problem?" I told him the people I knew in my family that clearly did. He then said " Notice I didn't ask whether anyone in your family had a problem, but who." This guy saw it as a marh formula, genetics plus alcohol abuse equals alcoholism. Just from my observations it seems to be truthful.
EndGame
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: New York, NY
Posts: 4,677
I was director of clinical assessment for COGA for a couple years -- The Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism.
I think that the very best we can say is that people inherit a genetic vulnerability or predisposition for alcoholism. The available science and technology has not yet advanced well enough to capture a genetic link with 100% certainty.
Not every alcoholic or problem drinker has an obvious or measurable genetic history of problems with alcohol, and not everyone with an alcoholic parent or parents suffers from alcoholism.
Based on my experience, I agree that it's safe to say that "alcoholism runs in families."
I think that the very best we can say is that people inherit a genetic vulnerability or predisposition for alcoholism. The available science and technology has not yet advanced well enough to capture a genetic link with 100% certainty.
Not every alcoholic or problem drinker has an obvious or measurable genetic history of problems with alcohol, and not everyone with an alcoholic parent or parents suffers from alcoholism.
Based on my experience, I agree that it's safe to say that "alcoholism runs in families."
Grateful
Join Date: May 2013
Location: NC
Posts: 1,763
Both of my grandfathers died as a direct result of alcoholism (esophagus cancer from drinking straight whiskey / cirrhosis of the liver). Both of my parents drink normally and have for as long as I can remember (both are in their early 80's). My Dad had one sibling and she was not alcoholic. My Mom had 9 siblings and 4 of them were alcoholics.
I would consider my sister (my only sibling) a moderate to heavy drinker but she has always been able to put it down or moderate when she wants to. My nephew (her son) is an active alcoholic/addict who has had 2 DUI's, multiple arrests, has been in college for 8 years without managing to get a degree, and has had one job in his entire life and got fired after 2 weeks (he is half of my age and has already outdone me LOL).
I've always thought that it was a nature AND/OR nurture thing, but I agree that being predisposed to alcoholism increases your odds of becoming one. I also believe that someone not predisposed to alcoholism can become one, they just have to work at it a little harder.
I would consider my sister (my only sibling) a moderate to heavy drinker but she has always been able to put it down or moderate when she wants to. My nephew (her son) is an active alcoholic/addict who has had 2 DUI's, multiple arrests, has been in college for 8 years without managing to get a degree, and has had one job in his entire life and got fired after 2 weeks (he is half of my age and has already outdone me LOL).
I've always thought that it was a nature AND/OR nurture thing, but I agree that being predisposed to alcoholism increases your odds of becoming one. I also believe that someone not predisposed to alcoholism can become one, they just have to work at it a little harder.
12 Step Recovered Alcoholic
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 6,613
Our top medic in the field tells us it his research shows that the disease is genetic but usually there is also an environmental component. If the environment does not switch on the gene then alcoholism may not develop. This apparently explains why alcoholism, though known to run in a family, may skip a generation sometimes.
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Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 7,097
Maybe environment and learned behaviour plays a bigger part than people realize rather than some alcoholic gene. For me,I turned to alcohol as a coping mechanism and for confidence and to reduce shyness.I had no self confidence without it. Neither did my sister who was brought up in the same way. Maybe if we teach our children to be confident,self assured,positive people and to deal with their emotions properly they won't need the crutch of alcohol. Just my 2p worth 
Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: UK
Posts: 375
Both my grandfathers, my mother, my father, my sister and my brother. Oh and let's not forget me! All alcoholics.
I think it runs in our family.
P.s the grandfathers, the mother, the father all dead through alcohol. The brother, the sister and myself, all in recovery. Thank God.
I think it runs in our family.
P.s the grandfathers, the mother, the father all dead through alcohol. The brother, the sister and myself, all in recovery. Thank God.
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Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: UK
Posts: 5,678
I am not sure I wanted to believe that people were born alcoholics, mainly because of this:
But there is no denying that there was something innate in me, because when I started drinking aged 12 it was fairly obvious that my approach to it was not like other people's. It has been an issue for me from day one really. But then so many people I have met in AA etc have said that they used to be normal social drinkers... You'd think if it was a genetic predisposition that people would become addicted much sooner.
I also think that this argument doesn't account for the fact that alcohol is an addictive substance. If you drink enough alcohol for long enough you'll get addicted right? I certainly had a larger capacity to drink than some people. My sister for example would have one glass of wine and then giggle for a bit and go to sleep. She would have to work pretty hard to get addicted. I think it took me less time because I developed a high tolerance pretty quickly.
I didn't really think about the genetic part much, except to note that my other sister and my mum also drank alot. My dad drank but I only ever saw him drunk once, but then he was a big man. But when I told my mother I was an alcoholic she told me that her cousin died from alcoholism, so maybe it came down her line. None of my grandparents had an issue with alcohol but my mum's mum had a lot of mental health issues and took a lot of valium in her time.
I think one of the things I dislike about this argument that it is something people can use to say, 'well it's not my fault', or 'there's nothing I can do about it, I was born this way'. I noticed a lot when I'd quit drinking that people (normal non alcoholic people) often referred to their alcoholic friends in a very fatalistic way... 'He drank himself to death, he couldn't help it, he was an alcoholic'. I think I picked up on it a lot because I was sensitive in early recovery and I was trying so hard and everywhere around me it seemed like an alcoholic was going to die from alcoholism. It wasn't a very positive message for me. What about all the recovering/recovered alcoholics. That was why it was so important for me to be sat in AA meetings at that time to be surrounded with people who had been sober for decades and weren't dead. Much more inspiring.
So yeah, the 'born this way' argument seems to take away elements of personal responsibility and doesn't inspire people to quit. Whether it is true or not (and it probably is) it might not be useful knowledge. It doesn't matter how we got here, it is what we do about it that counts
Originally Posted by EndGameNYC 
Not every alcoholic or problem drinker has an obvious or measurable genetic history of problems with alcohol, and not everyone with an alcoholic parent or parents suffers from alcoholism.
I also think that this argument doesn't account for the fact that alcohol is an addictive substance. If you drink enough alcohol for long enough you'll get addicted right? I certainly had a larger capacity to drink than some people. My sister for example would have one glass of wine and then giggle for a bit and go to sleep. She would have to work pretty hard to get addicted. I think it took me less time because I developed a high tolerance pretty quickly.
I didn't really think about the genetic part much, except to note that my other sister and my mum also drank alot. My dad drank but I only ever saw him drunk once, but then he was a big man. But when I told my mother I was an alcoholic she told me that her cousin died from alcoholism, so maybe it came down her line. None of my grandparents had an issue with alcohol but my mum's mum had a lot of mental health issues and took a lot of valium in her time.
I think one of the things I dislike about this argument that it is something people can use to say, 'well it's not my fault', or 'there's nothing I can do about it, I was born this way'. I noticed a lot when I'd quit drinking that people (normal non alcoholic people) often referred to their alcoholic friends in a very fatalistic way... 'He drank himself to death, he couldn't help it, he was an alcoholic'. I think I picked up on it a lot because I was sensitive in early recovery and I was trying so hard and everywhere around me it seemed like an alcoholic was going to die from alcoholism. It wasn't a very positive message for me. What about all the recovering/recovered alcoholics. That was why it was so important for me to be sat in AA meetings at that time to be surrounded with people who had been sober for decades and weren't dead. Much more inspiring.
So yeah, the 'born this way' argument seems to take away elements of personal responsibility and doesn't inspire people to quit. Whether it is true or not (and it probably is) it might not be useful knowledge. It doesn't matter how we got here, it is what we do about it that counts
Member
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Cardiff, Wales, UK
Posts: 473
I think I was born with an incredibly addictive personality. My drug was alcohol, could quite easily have been something else. At the moment I'm addicted to the gym, miss a workout and I get the same depressed feeling I used to when I missed drink.
Member
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 36
I am not sure I buy into the genetics aspect of alcoholism. I think it's more to do with nurture. I am the only alcoholic in my immediate family. My brothers and sisters don't do the stuff. But when I was young, I witnessed my grandfather and two of his sons use alcohol on a daily basis, to celebrate events, to relax after a long day, to get over issues with spouses etc.
Even though it wasn't later into my thirties that I picked up a drink, I think my early programming helped me look at alcohol as an elixir. I didn't drink normally, I drank for a "reason".
That's all I have to say about that.
Even though it wasn't later into my thirties that I picked up a drink, I think my early programming helped me look at alcohol as an elixir. I didn't drink normally, I drank for a "reason".
That's all I have to say about that.
Mini Novel Post Writer
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Maine
Posts: 3,649
Interesting topic.
My brother and I were both adopted at birth. Neither one of our adopted parents drank that much, in fact, I don't ever remember my mother drinking at all. My dad would have a few beers at a wedding or if he was working on the camp. That would be it, a few. Both my brother and I are alcoholics, my brother hardcore. Both of our biological families are hardcore alcoholics.
However, I also smoke and both my parents and my brother were disappointed and disgusted when they found out.
I think there may be something to being genetically predisposed but I also think it has more to do with your environment that you grew up in. Also the crowd that you ended up hanging out with.
My brother and I were both adopted at birth. Neither one of our adopted parents drank that much, in fact, I don't ever remember my mother drinking at all. My dad would have a few beers at a wedding or if he was working on the camp. That would be it, a few. Both my brother and I are alcoholics, my brother hardcore. Both of our biological families are hardcore alcoholics.
However, I also smoke and both my parents and my brother were disappointed and disgusted when they found out.
I think there may be something to being genetically predisposed but I also think it has more to do with your environment that you grew up in. Also the crowd that you ended up hanging out with.
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Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2013
Location: california
Posts: 43
Hypochondriac...I get where your coming from and im truly sorry if this topic offended you and I now do see that it could hinder peoples recovery.I just find that there's more knowledge here and more believable insite...sorry again.
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Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: UK
Posts: 5,678
Originally Posted by notfixable
Hypochondriac...I get where your coming from and im truly sorry if this topic offended you and I now do see that it could hinder peoples recovery.I just find that there's more knowledge here and more believable insite...sorry again.
... the Buddha said, "Whether the world is finite or infinite, limited or unlimited, the problem of your liberation remains the same." Another time he said, "Suppose a man is struck by a poisoned arrow and the doctor wishes to take out the arrow immediately. Suppose the man does not want the arrow removed until he knows who shot it, his age, his parents, and why he shot it. What would happen? If he were to wait until all these questions have been answered, the man might die first." Life is so short. It must not be spent in endless metaphysical speculation that does not bring us any closer to the truth.
Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: UK
Posts: 375
I have choices and I exercise them but I also believe that my background has contributed to my problems now. I don't believe I am wriggling out of responsibility, just acknowledging a fact. I am in early recovery but I am already learning that I can find inspiration not only in those who succeed. I just want to be with the people who are trying.
Stay with it and certainly don't be afraid to ask the questions. If we don't ask questions we won't get any answers.
Stay with it and certainly don't be afraid to ask the questions. If we don't ask questions we won't get any answers.
Member
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 1,949
I just don't like how people in recovery and and worse some physicians and therapists take things that have no evidence to back them up and pass them off as truth. If you're in AA long enough you will hear people tell you that people are born an alcoholic. You will also hear that alcoholism is a disease and a progressive disease, meaning it gets worse even if you are sober. I understand that the disease model was created to get insurance companies to cover treatment for alcoholism and substance abuse so in a way that was a good thing even if its fuzzy science. To say your born an alcoholic is crazy to me. They just took the little or no evidence of a genetic link and got carried away.
Dismember
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: The Mitten, USA
Posts: 1,641
I personally believe in the genetic predisposition concept. The statistics make it seem pretty clear that there's a link even if they haven't isolated what exactly it is or what causes it to switch on/off.
That said, I come from a very, very large family and I'm the only one on the whole family tree to be an alcoholic or even have a drinking problem except maybe a great-great uncle back in France. So there may be more than just inheritance at work. And I look too much like my dad to accuse the mailman.
That said, I come from a very, very large family and I'm the only one on the whole family tree to be an alcoholic or even have a drinking problem except maybe a great-great uncle back in France. So there may be more than just inheritance at work. And I look too much like my dad to accuse the mailman.
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