I was an alcoholic. Drunk every day for 15 years. Seems like there is a gene that
predisposes a person to alcoholism. I think the disease model works best.
I thank my university days for my alcohol abuse. Never touched a drop till then. I made a choice of some kind to start but I couldn't seem to make the choice to stop.
https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/...W55HeQ8qRTgUvzdtJZLsLkqqHzn5-Pq5wS51JLT4xfZwA
Why do some people become addicted to alcohol and drugs and others do not?
Whether a person decides to use alcohol or drugs is a choice, influenced by their environment--peers, family, and availability. But, once a person uses alcohol or drugs, the risk of developing alcoholism or drug dependence is largely influenced by genetics. Alcoholism and drug dependence are not moral issues, are not a matter of choice or a lack of willpower.
Plain and simple, some people’s bodies respond to the effects of alcohol and drugs differently.
FACT: The single most reliable indicator of risk for future alcohol and drug problems is FAMILY HISTORY.
Research has shown conclusively that family history of alcoholism or drug addiction is in part genetic and not just the result of the family environment. And, millions of Americans are living proof, based on personal, firsthand experience, that alcoholism and drug addiction run in families.
Plain and simple, alcoholism and drug dependence run in families.
http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/addiction/news/20040526/researchers-identify-alcoholism-gene
May 26, 2004 -- A new study links a gene to alcohol
addiction -- backing up a long-recognized pattern showing that
alcoholism runs in families.
The finding also provides evidence that an inborn high level of
anxietyis part of this picture. The study appears in this week's issue of the
Journal of Neuroscience.
Alcoholism as a Disease
Toward the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, addicts were often viewed as morally wrong and even shunned as being bad people or sinners. This type of thinking led many physicians of the time to fight to change common perceptions and try to help addicts instead of punish them. The formation of AA – Alcoholics Anonymous – in the 1930s and the publication of noted psychiatrist and Director of the Center of Alcohol Studies at Yale Medical School E. M. Jellinek’s famous book defining the concept of alcoholism as a medical disease facilitated moving alcoholism into a different light.
I am recognized here on TS as gigantically intelligent!! Imagine if I hadn't killed all those brain cells!:biggrin: