debs

Well I was raised in an alcohol-free home with parents that never even so much as picked up a beer...

I was raised to believe that drinking was 'sinful' regardless...

My paternal great grandfather was alcoholic...

No-one from my immediate family...

So if mine wasn't genetically induced from him---- where did mine come from?

Guess it doesn't so much matter, tho, really... as someone else said...

What matters is recovering from the illness.

hendershot

I heard a Dr. in addiction medicine speak about this once. The way I remember, and this is according to the perspective of the "Disease Model"--as a disease, alcohol/drug addiction is genetic and thus inhertited. Technically, no gene means no alcoholism/addiction. But just because you have the gene doesn't mean that you get the disease, there is some interplay between enviromental factors and genetics that we don't fully understand. The key thing that has to happen is the "throwing of the switch"--that is, if you have the genes and you use alcohol/drugs in such a way as to manage stress, you have "thrown the switch" and are thus an alcoholic/addict. Once you cross this line you have the disease and you have it for the rest of your life. I am not in a posistion to assess the validity of this but it seems to make sense, at least based on the data that is available now.

McGowdog

What I don't think matters much is when I became an alcoholic. The when is something I have no control over. Just like I have no control over booze when I put it in my body.

But the more I learn about alcoholism and how my prior and perhaps future family was/is affected... that's of interest to me. Anything that helps me to identfy with being an alcoholic or whatever type of drinker I am.

The current and most important factor with me being an alcoholic is whether I can control the amount once I start and/or whether I can control whether I can stay away from the first drink for good and all.

I like the book Under the Influence with regards to all of this. It describes the "physiological" aspects of the thing. It seems to do a good job of describing the different stages of alcoholism.

But was I born an alcoholic? Hmmm... I don't know about that. I could handle my booze pretty good when I was 5. I could play poker, craps, and of course, play pool. I liked Black Berry Brandy and Robitussin. I was a robitussin fiend. I also liked Flinstones vitimins. But I was a social drinker of Black Berry Brandy, Robitussin, and vitimin user... at the age of 5. But by the time I was 10, full blown blackout drinker. No lie. I could put the bottle down for a while though. So was I a hard drinker at that young stage or a potential alkie? Hard to tell.

I was maybe a bit self-seeking and extremely self-centered growing up, but I wasn't really aware of it. I was extremely uneasy of certain social situations at certain times. But at other times, I was very much at ease and seemed in control. But put booze in me and I'm very comfortable and in control...whether I nearly drank myself to death or not. Booze changed my world... at 10, at 12, 13, 14, 15, etc. I took to booze like a fish to water. I knew how to get drunk and knew not how to "drink like a gentleman". Still don't.

Unlike some who say they worked hard to become an alcoholic or whatever, I didn't need to work at it at all. It just came natural. Drinking like a gentleman or controlling my drinking is something I tried from time to time and failed miserably most every time.

Pilgrim

The Doctor's Opinion in the Big Book makes sense to me. I am bodily different from non alcoholics. At some stage in my strange drinking career, I lost all control of my drinking and started drinking alcoholically. The potential for that was always there according to experts who wrote "Under the Influence".

Jules62

I absolutely do not agree I was born an alcoholic.If that was the case both my sisters would be too wouldn't they?Same parents, upbringing etc? They're normies-I'm an alcoholic.

That said-this debate is one of those endless ones that never gets resolved...you know...



Ultimately though, for me, it really doesn't matter.I accept I am one and I do my best to live a good sober life.This stuff is just mental musing really-doesn't change anything.

Jules.

tallcactus

Just my 2 cents here.
When I went to outpatient treatment, I was taught that it is a desease, like mental illness. Told that studies show that it is genetic and enviromental factors that are both involded.

OZboy

..my cents worth..it's a self inflicked wound..with the assistance of
peer acceptance that simply made it seem right to drink..
now,we're in too deep..it's hurting..
..what do we do?
..it only takes only one day to stop asking that question..
..don't let today be that day.....

Tazman53

As Dee already said, when one gets right down to it, it does not matter whether it is genetic or enviromental, what matters is what we do about it.

Now I do fall on the side of one being geneticlly predisposed to possibly becoming an alcoholic for 2 main reasons:

1. Main stream medical & scientific research - For me one of the most convincing studies has been where they took young children where BOTH parents were alcoholics, they gave each child a very small amount of alcohol to see how thier livers processed alcohol. Every childs liver processed the alcohol just like an alcoholics liver would even though they had never drank before. Then they did the same test with children whose families had no known alcoholics in it and thier livers processed the alcohol normally.

2. Personal Experience/Observation - I am an alcoholic, my only brother is an alcoholic, my only son is an alcoholic, my father was an alcoholic, bith of my grandfathers were alcoholics! Now in my case enviroment was not a factor, I never saw my father drink because he had his last drink the day after I was born. There was no booze in my home growing up and there was no drinking allowed in my house EVER! I had a wonderful childhood and was raised by BOTH of my parents who were both loving and caring.

Just my opinion backed up by the Main Stream scientific & medical community.

KenL

Dan,

I too wondered what it was that made me want to drink so much. I needed to find out if it was disease or character. I think we all need to find out for individual selves what it is that makes us want to drink. The reasons are unique to each individual. So with that in mind, beat feet and do some research and a modicum of introspection to find the reasons for why dandare wants to drink so much. Good luck. Peace.

NEOMARXIST

I don't really care tbh.

I am an alcoholic and I must not drink.

End of. No excuses

Just my Opinion.

Bamboozle

Maybe I'm wrong...but I think I might know where the OP is coming from on this. I'm one of those I-need-to-know-why people.

I think it's natural to want an explanation for the "why?" for addiction. I feel the same way about my depression. I'm pretty sure now that I've had it ever since I was little...it morphed over time and has become worse.

I feel like if I know the "why?" it makes it easier to deal with the problem...to come to an understanding so I know what I need to work on to better myself. Knowing the source of the problem can lead me to thinking about how I reacted to that and how things progressed.

Is it situational? Is it genetic? Is it both?

Knowing these things narrows my options for treatment. This is a good thing. I can focus on what’s most likely to work rather than blindly throwing darts at a recovery board.

Having a better understanding of where the addiction and depression is coming from has been empowering for me.

Philly

I will tell you what happened to me. My father was an alcoholic never really knew him. My sister is an alcoholic and came to me for help 11 years ago. She has been sober since. I didn't really drink. Every once in a while a few glasses of wine to be social. Well in my 40's I decided it was my turn to party. It seems like my tolerance was through the roof almost immediately. In the beginning no hangovers. Never got sick. All red flags. I had no clue any of these things meant anything. So I would say in my case the genes were there. But the thing about alcoholism is if you don't drink alcoholically you won't get it. I think we need more education on the subject. I think if I would have known then what I know now I probably would have did things differently if that was possible. I also think that once the flood gates were open it was too late. As you can see this is a subject us alkies love to discuss.

Tazman53

Philly I agree, we need far better education on the EARLY stages of alcoholism, it may save a few, actually it already is, I see a lot of folks in the rooms that did not take it as far as I did. I did not take it as far as many, especially some of the folks that got sober 50 years ago.

Philly the sad thing is just how insidious alcoholism is, I for one knew that my father was an alcoholic even though I never saw him drink. I was 19 when he passed, he had been sober for 19 years! My mother and father were very open about my fathers alcoholism, they both told my brother and I we needed to watch our drinking because of not only our father but both of our grandfathers..... Well we both knew about it, but we are both recovering alcoholics.

Imho where the education needs to be really emphasized is to the following professionals:

Doctors
Therapist
Physchiatrist

These professions all need to be made well aware of the EARLY signs of alcoholism, I know for a fact that most medical schools barely even stratch the surface of the signs or the effects of alcoholism except in treating the medical portion of ADDVANCED alcoholism.

It would not hurt at all for social workers as well to be able to speak intelligently to both clients and others about alcoholism.

Philly

Taz,

I think it is probably that "it won't happen to me thing" and by the time you realize it did happen to you it is already too late. What is the saying "once you become a pickle you can never be a cucumber again". I am taking everyone's word on that one.

Dandare,

Thanks for the thread as you can see very interesting topic.

jamdls

I also think there is a genetic predisposition to alcholism but of course there are always going to be those people that fall into alcoholism with no family history of it. Kind of like breast cancer, if a relative had breast cancer your chances of getting it are that much higher but even with no family history of it you can still get it.
I think I was born an alcoholic, my father was a drunk my mother never drank. I was sipping the foam off of dad's beer by the time I could walk, I had my first real drink at 12 straight gin in a 10 oz glass through a straw didn't stop drinking for about 10 yrs after that...1 of my sisters has never had a drink because she saw what it did to our dad and she feels if she ever has 1 she won't stop; another sister feels pretty much the same but does on rare occassions have a sip or 2. I often talked with my daughter about the alcoholism in our family and although she occassionally has a drink she is always very careful and chooses not to have more than 1.

shaun00

only one person knows that......and it aint me.

There is no alcoholism in my family.....that im aware of.

im past looking for reasons or explanations..

i live my life without alcohol and im happy and content to do that.

that all that matters...to me

Jeb18

Same here, well I was adopted from Russia at age 3.

mikefreak

I think there CAN be something to the genetics argument. My dad & practically ALL of his siblings had "the sickness". Scientists have been saying for years that Native Americans have a high rate of alcoholism because of their genetic makeup. It's not the ONLY cause, of course, but I don't think you can brush genetic tendencys(sic) aside, either........

McGowdog

That's a good place to be when starting the work and after reaching about page 43 in the book Alcoholics Anonymous. And that's where I am coming from. If you don't do A.A., then I'm sure your other method is fine for you.

But in A.A., we go into the path of recovery and spirituality with a question; maybe I'm an alcoholic, maybe I'm not. We also do this yearly when we go through the work again and take a "regular" inventory.

Debate? Who's starting a debate here? Someone merely asked a question; "Are alcoholics born to be alcoholics? If you don't like the question, then why respond to the thread? There's your debate.

There again, why respond? It does matter to me.

Disagree. Anything that helps someone identify as an alcoholic is very important.

There again, in A.A., real alcoholics are not alcoholics because of a situation. If that's the case, then once my situation gets better and settles down, I can drink normally.

Pinkcuda

My ancestors on both sides were dying alcoholic deaths for generations. Where did my alcoholism come from?
I know I didn't get it from a toilet seat.
Come on Jules. Do all siblings have the same hair, eyes, freckles? A red headed kid can be the descendant of a red headed grandfather while everyone else is blonde.