People who believe alcoholism is genetic

Just curious if anybody here believes that idea that alcoholism is genetic and so if you are the child of alcoholics you're pretty much doomed to be one yourself. And exactly how far is that supposed to run down the line? Does it skip generations, is it only passed on when the parents actually drink and therefore activate their boozer genetic? What?

Shale wrote:I think some studies show that some individuals have a physical disposition to be addicted to certain substances, but I don't know how that works out to being inherited.

I think it more likely that environment causes ppl to addict to substances they grow up around,

I've had several blood relatives that I think qualified as alcoholics and I don't have a drinking problem. Unless I can't get a drink.

Well I had 2 uncles, one aunt and a father who were all alcoholics and yes the it is in the genes. Only one of my grandmothers 5 kids was not an alcoholic. I too am an alcoholic but fortunately I caught it soon enough that it didn't kill me or ruin my marriage. It is pretty simple really I simply do not take that one drink and haven't for 20 years. Booze is much harder on women than it is on men that is a fact too. People aren't doomed of course, but need to know that it certainly can be them too if family members are alcoholics. One cousin of mine whose father was an alcoholic lost one son to alcohol, and has a daughter who is an alcoholic. The cousin herself didn't drink much herself until after her husband died, where upon she turned to vodka, expensive vodka at that. Neither of our grandparents was but I feel fairly sure someone behind them was a drunk.

Congratulations on your sobriety, Suzi.

Alan Smithee wrote:Congratulations on your sobriety, Suzi.

It could be. I've known people with alcoholism running in the family.

Nystyle709 wrote:It could be. I've known people with alcoholism running in the family.

That's just because their family drives them to drink with all that running around.

Well my mother grew up with two of the biggest alcoholics of the post-war boom and she has never touched a drop of alcohol in her life. Then she had me who waited until my 21st birthday to have my first drinks of champagne. Maybe I'm wrong but it seems to me if you were genetically meant to be a drunk, you would be hardwired by your family's biology to hit the bottle instead of never going near it.

It may be...My grandfather was a really bad alcoholic, been sober for almost 15 years now. One of my aunts and uncles are alcoholics as well. But my mother was never one to drink like that. Who knows.

Supernova wrote:Well my mother grew up with two of the biggest alcoholics of the post-war boom and she has never touched a drop of alcohol in her life. Then she had me who waited until my 21st birthday to have my first drinks of champagne. Maybe I'm wrong but it seems to me if you were genetically meant to be a drunk, you would be hardwired by your family's biology to hit the bottle instead of never going near it.

If your mother never even tried an alcoholic drink you really can't know if alcoholism was passed on to her, she never gave it a chance. That's the whole AA approach to booze, one chooses not to drink that day. So if you only knew me for the past 20 years you would think I never had a drink in my life too. Then not every child of an alcoholic becomes one , but the risk is there.

I had my first champagne for my 21st birthday and hated it. I never had any problem turning down wines or hard liquors. But I sure loved beer!

Suzi wrote:
If your mother never even tried an alcoholic drink you really can't know if alcoholism was passed on to her, she never gave it a chance. That's the whole AA approach to booze, one chooses not to drink that day. So if you only knew me for the past 20 years you would think I never had a drink in my life too. Then not every child of an alcoholic becomes one , but the risk is there.

I had my first champagne for my 21st birthday and hated it. I never had any problem turning down wines or hard liquors. But I sure loved beer!

However, consider the fact that when my mother was born, all mothers smoked and drank when they were pregnant, there were no warnings about it, and today we look at babies who are born addicted to drugs because their mothers took them while pregnant. And yet somehow a lot of these people who were born in the 50s, the whole time they were developing inside, their mothers were drinking like fish, but they sure as hell didn't come out already addicted to booze, why is that?

I'm not here to argue the facts with you, it is well known that the children of alcoholics are much more apt to become alcoholics. Do they all? No and we don't know why. Fortunately I had many years when I didn't drink at all and those just happened to be the years I was having my babies, I was so damn lucky because as you said we were never told not to drink or smoke. If you have even seen a child with FAS you would say that it is a good thing they didn't come addicted too. Drugs at that time we had heard of but we wouldn't have known where to find any, that was left to the bums on skid row.

Nope I don't think so.

It runs in my family, and I've had brushes with OOC drinking myself. Fortunately, it hasn't effected my immediate family and I, myself, generally know when to stop.