Why alcohol is so addictive
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Portland OR
Posts: 280
Why alcohol is so addictive
It seems to me the science/medical community is way behind understanding alcohol addiction. As baby boomers and seniors are now a huge growing group of new alcoholics...perhaps more research will go into prevention measures.
New research:
Why Alcohol Is So Addictive
New research:
Why Alcohol Is So Addictive
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Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: In a good place
Posts: 4,482
I don't agree. Every few years the media reports a 'new' study, and they all basically state the same thing those before have said. The only difference is that current studies utilize newer diagnostics. I tend to view the reporting as more of a public service announcement, aimed specifically at each new familial generation, who have not heard it before. Live long enough and we'll probably hear more of the same at least 20 times, though presented in new packaging.
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Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: UK
Posts: 28
In the 70s my aged mother in law blamed greed on AH's brother's alcoholism.
She had a terrible life with him as he stayed with her but she never made him leave.
I could never understand how or why she put up with his alcoholic insanity.
However, for many years now I have been facing the same problem with my AH only he is so much worse than his brother.
Honestly, I agree with my mother in law(now decesased). I believe that constantly wanting more alcohol than others in your company are drinking, and giving in to that want by getting hold of alcohol by any means, suggests you have a problem. The sooner you deal with that problem the better. Howerer, if you feed the greed, which seems to be what alcoholics do,you just need more and more alcohol more often, until it completely takes over your life.
I was a party giirl in the 70s and loved to drink alcohol, but never to excess. However the responsibillity of marriage and parenthood showed that there were more important things in life than partying. Alcohol was no longer part of my partying as I had to be 100%alert to look after my household.
My husband I and had the same choices. He chose alcohol. I chose my family.
I tried over and over to help him for years. But he loved the alcohol more.
We both drank while we were dating. Why is it that I could leave it because of my family responsibilities, but he drank ever more and more to the point where he lost his job, and after many, many attempts to help him, by each of his children, he eventually lost his family.
I still don't understand.
I've read the article.
Why IS alcohol so addictive? It wasn't to me, but it was to my AH. Why?
She had a terrible life with him as he stayed with her but she never made him leave.
I could never understand how or why she put up with his alcoholic insanity.
However, for many years now I have been facing the same problem with my AH only he is so much worse than his brother.
Honestly, I agree with my mother in law(now decesased). I believe that constantly wanting more alcohol than others in your company are drinking, and giving in to that want by getting hold of alcohol by any means, suggests you have a problem. The sooner you deal with that problem the better. Howerer, if you feed the greed, which seems to be what alcoholics do,you just need more and more alcohol more often, until it completely takes over your life.
I was a party giirl in the 70s and loved to drink alcohol, but never to excess. However the responsibillity of marriage and parenthood showed that there were more important things in life than partying. Alcohol was no longer part of my partying as I had to be 100%alert to look after my household.
My husband I and had the same choices. He chose alcohol. I chose my family.
I tried over and over to help him for years. But he loved the alcohol more.
We both drank while we were dating. Why is it that I could leave it because of my family responsibilities, but he drank ever more and more to the point where he lost his job, and after many, many attempts to help him, by each of his children, he eventually lost his family.
I still don't understand.
I've read the article.
Why IS alcohol so addictive? It wasn't to me, but it was to my AH. Why?
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Manchester UK
Posts: 1,017
Originally Posted by MsMahon 
In the 70s my aged mother in law blamed greed on AH's brother's alcoholism.
She had a terrible life with him as he stayed with her but she never made him leave.
I could never understand how or why she put up with his alcoholic insanity.
However, for many years now I have been facing the same problem with my AH only he is so much worse than his brother.
Honestly, I agree with my mother in law(now decesased). I believe that constantly wanting more alcohol than others in your company are drinking, and giving in to that want by getting hold of alcohol by any means, suggests you have a problem. The sooner you deal with that problem the better. Howerer, if you feed the greed, which seems to be what alcoholics do,you just need more and more alcohol more often, until it completely takes over your life.
I was a party giirl in the 70s and loved to drink alcohol, but never to excess. However the responsibillity of marriage and parenthood showed that there were more important things in life than partying. Alcohol was no longer part of my partying as I had to be 100%alert to look after my household.
My husband I and had the same choices. He chose alcohol. I chose my family.
I tried over and over to help him for years. But he loved the alcohol more.
We both drank while we were dating. Why is it that I could leave it because of my family responsibilities, but he drank ever more and more to the point where he lost his job, and after many, many attempts to help him, by each of his children, he eventually lost his family.
I still don't understand.
I've read the article.
Why IS alcohol so addictive? It wasn't to me, but it was to my AH. Why?
She had a terrible life with him as he stayed with her but she never made him leave.
I could never understand how or why she put up with his alcoholic insanity.
However, for many years now I have been facing the same problem with my AH only he is so much worse than his brother.
Honestly, I agree with my mother in law(now decesased). I believe that constantly wanting more alcohol than others in your company are drinking, and giving in to that want by getting hold of alcohol by any means, suggests you have a problem. The sooner you deal with that problem the better. Howerer, if you feed the greed, which seems to be what alcoholics do,you just need more and more alcohol more often, until it completely takes over your life.
I was a party giirl in the 70s and loved to drink alcohol, but never to excess. However the responsibillity of marriage and parenthood showed that there were more important things in life than partying. Alcohol was no longer part of my partying as I had to be 100%alert to look after my household.
My husband I and had the same choices. He chose alcohol. I chose my family.
I tried over and over to help him for years. But he loved the alcohol more.
We both drank while we were dating. Why is it that I could leave it because of my family responsibilities, but he drank ever more and more to the point where he lost his job, and after many, many attempts to help him, by each of his children, he eventually lost his family.
I still don't understand.
I've read the article.
Why IS alcohol so addictive? It wasn't to me, but it was to my AH. Why?
I've asked the same question about myself and my brother, I've heard the hereditary stuff, so why not both of us?
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Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Anchorage, Alaska
Posts: 4,719
Interesting. But I do think we've known this already for a long time. Maybe this study is using the "direct link" to state this is something new.
Alcohol also blunts emotions. I remember once not too long ago, I had a terrible fight with the RAH and was very upset. I went over to my Mom's and she poured me a small glass of brandy. Just a couple sips later and I was much more calm. She actually pointed it out to me...I probably wouldn't have noticed.
I have noticed with the A's in my life a more pronounced high anxiety level as well. Just an observation...not saying its correlated! But it makes me wonder, and given this article, if it is so addictive because it just plain old works at first. And for some, it works too well. And then the very solution becomes the problem, ya know?!
Alcohol also blunts emotions. I remember once not too long ago, I had a terrible fight with the RAH and was very upset. I went over to my Mom's and she poured me a small glass of brandy. Just a couple sips later and I was much more calm. She actually pointed it out to me...I probably wouldn't have noticed.
I have noticed with the A's in my life a more pronounced high anxiety level as well. Just an observation...not saying its correlated! But it makes me wonder, and given this article, if it is so addictive because it just plain old works at first. And for some, it works too well. And then the very solution becomes the problem, ya know?!
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Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Vashon WA
Posts: 1,035
Didn't the article basically state that alcohol makes you feel good and that more alcohol makes you feel even better? I don't think you need a lab full of monkeys to figure that one out!
My sister can drink two or three beers a week and enjoy them. I can't drink beer at all because I'm an alcoholic and it will make me crazy. My whole family has battled the demon cigarette addiction. Certain humans just shouldn't be exposed to certain addictive things.
My sister can drink two or three beers a week and enjoy them. I can't drink beer at all because I'm an alcoholic and it will make me crazy. My whole family has battled the demon cigarette addiction. Certain humans just shouldn't be exposed to certain addictive things.
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Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Pacific Northwest
Posts: 51
Some people are allergic to strawberries, but not until they are adults. Your body has X amount of immunity towards any specific substance, be it hay fever or lapsing from alcoholism/addiction. I speak from both experience and personal witness. The Strawberry allergy analogy always worked best for me, mostly because I've known many people who've developed both life threatening allergies and deep alcoholism after a certain point in their lives.
I myself didn't have hay fever and other minor allergies before I was forty - which was about the same age as my dad developed hay fever. My mom developed a life threatening allergy to mangoes long after she began to eat them. If, indeed, there is an alcoholism/addiction gene, and I believe that there is some permutation of that, it sometimes kicks in with the first beer, but sometimes doesn't kick into gear until [insert quotient here] has been exhausted and the gene kicks into high gear.
Keep in mind I am not a scientist, just trying to figure it all out for myself.
I myself didn't have hay fever and other minor allergies before I was forty - which was about the same age as my dad developed hay fever. My mom developed a life threatening allergy to mangoes long after she began to eat them. If, indeed, there is an alcoholism/addiction gene, and I believe that there is some permutation of that, it sometimes kicks in with the first beer, but sometimes doesn't kick into gear until [insert quotient here] has been exhausted and the gene kicks into high gear.
Keep in mind I am not a scientist, just trying to figure it all out for myself.
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Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 32
Unlike some drugs, alcohol is not in itself addictive. The vast majority of people can drink it, some even heavily and frequently, and not become alcoholic....or more accurately 'alcohol dependent' ie: addicted to it.
As a recovering alcoholic, I have followed the science of alcoholism for years. What was obvious to me just looking at my own family tree has become increasingly clear - that there is a strong genetic component. I didn't drink because I had problems.....in retrospect, from the time I first took a drink at age 15 I could not drink like normal people. I can in fact, now look at a group of teenagers drinking and tell you is the alcoholic.....long before it causes the kinds of problems that make it glaringly obvious to everyone else.
Knowing that this was something that I had inherited very much helped me in getting sober because I was very clear that this was something that I had no control over and never would. Beyond that I was told when I was in early recovery not to focus on trying to figure out why I drank but to focus on how to stop and stay stopped. I have known plenty enough addicts who completely destroyed their lives or even died while sitting in therapist offices trying to figure out why? For me,as for many alcoholics, the things I might be inclined to point to as why? were in fact problems that had developed over many years of getting drunk 'to deal with '(ie:avoid) things.
It has been my observation that trying to figure out 'why' someone drinks can lead to the kinds of misguided 'understanding' and misguided compassion that leads to some really major kinds of enabling. I also,quite frustratingly,find that people reject the notion that this could be genetic because of their fears about their own children. In my own family it lies deeply entrenched in the whole denial system,preventing the kind of openness about the dangers of alcohol and our family history that could inform their lives in ways that might save them from lots of unnecessary hell. This is particularly true with my siblings who are not alcoholics. ( 2 of us are and 2 of us aren't which pretty much matches the genetics. My mother and her only sibling are both alcoholics) ADHD also runs rife in my family.....it is quite common for both to be true in families though what the link is they don't know. Both have something to do with proper dopamine regulation in the brain.
There is certainly so much more to be discovered about this nuts and bolts of the genetics and brain chemistry of alcoholism but there is a great deal of new information coming in all the time and most of it points to genetics.
Anyway,just my opinion based on my own experience,observation and years of educationing myself about my own disease. TWYWLR
As a recovering alcoholic, I have followed the science of alcoholism for years. What was obvious to me just looking at my own family tree has become increasingly clear - that there is a strong genetic component. I didn't drink because I had problems.....in retrospect, from the time I first took a drink at age 15 I could not drink like normal people. I can in fact, now look at a group of teenagers drinking and tell you is the alcoholic.....long before it causes the kinds of problems that make it glaringly obvious to everyone else.
Knowing that this was something that I had inherited very much helped me in getting sober because I was very clear that this was something that I had no control over and never would. Beyond that I was told when I was in early recovery not to focus on trying to figure out why I drank but to focus on how to stop and stay stopped. I have known plenty enough addicts who completely destroyed their lives or even died while sitting in therapist offices trying to figure out why? For me,as for many alcoholics, the things I might be inclined to point to as why? were in fact problems that had developed over many years of getting drunk 'to deal with '(ie:avoid) things.
It has been my observation that trying to figure out 'why' someone drinks can lead to the kinds of misguided 'understanding' and misguided compassion that leads to some really major kinds of enabling. I also,quite frustratingly,find that people reject the notion that this could be genetic because of their fears about their own children. In my own family it lies deeply entrenched in the whole denial system,preventing the kind of openness about the dangers of alcohol and our family history that could inform their lives in ways that might save them from lots of unnecessary hell. This is particularly true with my siblings who are not alcoholics. ( 2 of us are and 2 of us aren't which pretty much matches the genetics. My mother and her only sibling are both alcoholics) ADHD also runs rife in my family.....it is quite common for both to be true in families though what the link is they don't know. Both have something to do with proper dopamine regulation in the brain.
There is certainly so much more to be discovered about this nuts and bolts of the genetics and brain chemistry of alcoholism but there is a great deal of new information coming in all the time and most of it points to genetics.
Anyway,just my opinion based on my own experience,observation and years of educationing myself about my own disease. TWYWLR
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Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Tucson
Posts: 71
Its funny, I've been asking myself what came first...the chicken or the egg in regards to alcoholism.
As I read, it sounds like many (most?) alcoholics share similar personalities. So which came first, the personality or the alcoholism?
My husband and I are exact opposites in personalities. So are our children. Our last child is exactly like him on so many levels and as I've watched her blossom over the last few years, I've felt guilt that I have never loved my husband as freely or as non-judgmentally as I do her.
But hes an adult and shes a helpless child and that makes all the difference in the world.
As I read, it sounds like many (most?) alcoholics share similar personalities. So which came first, the personality or the alcoholism?
My husband and I are exact opposites in personalities. So are our children. Our last child is exactly like him on so many levels and as I've watched her blossom over the last few years, I've felt guilt that I have never loved my husband as freely or as non-judgmentally as I do her.
But hes an adult and shes a helpless child and that makes all the difference in the world.
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