Is addiction hereditary or based on lifestyle?
Question by Tom C: Is addiction hereditary or based on lifestyle?
I was having a discussion with my fiance on this, and we can’t agree on it…
Basically said, is being susceptible to addiction something you can control or not. If somewhere in your family tree, you have a relative that was addicted to drugs, liquor, etc. are you in danger of getting the so called “addiction gene.” Do you have to purposely stray away from those types of behaviors or uncontrollably get sucked into an addiction you apparently have a gene for.
My fiance spouts off things like “there have been studies proving this.” “I know for a fact that addiction is in your genes,” etc. However, how can anyone prove it without having any kind of bias? Sure, you can say:
-Joe’s Grandfather was an alcoholic
-Joe’s Dad is an alcoholic
Then by this apparently reasoning, Joe is doomed to be susceptible to alcoholism? Does it actually have anything to do with them drinking alcohol and changing your genes? or just an inverse parenting style that encourages you to be susceptible to addictions. Whether it is beating, abuse, neglect, or many other different types of poor parenting, can THAT be the cause of the addiction and not the so called “addiction gene?”
I have yet to find any information that isn’t biased in the method of only showing that someones dad or direct relative is an addict so they are by default. How can they prove that addiction has anything to do with genes, and not just poor lifestyle changes?
If you have severe addiction in your family, there is bound to be dysfunctional traits to it. So if you get beaten by your dad while he is on the bottle, there will be a good chance that later in life you seek outlets such as drugs, alcohol, or other addictions because you never learned any different. Your parents did it to solve their problems, so you as a child, will learn that.
Personally, I believe it is just a sad cop out of an excuse. Take some friggin responsibility and make good lifestyle changes. Just because you were raised one way, doesn’t mean you have to live that way.
Is it just society’s natural desire to call it’s poor judgement calls something that they “can’t control?”
I will probably catch a lot of flak for this topic, but let me ask those who call me stupid one thing:
When you tell me that its genetic, and that your relative is dieing from an addiction….answer me this: Is everyone in their life an enabler of their addiction? Do they have problems in their life out of poor lifestyle changes? Were they beaten? Were they abused at home/school?
My point exactly, lifestyle causes addiction, not genetics.
My life is fine. It was just a topic that came up because my fiance’s relatives have drinking problems so she made the comment, “I have to watch out, alcoholism is in my blood.” That is what started the discussion.
Best answer:
Answer by That kid
Many people in my family are alcoholics or drug addicts and I have never once touched drugs, though I have drank before, I have no desire to.
I am genetically prone to these problems but I CHOOSE not to partake in them. In the end, it’s up to the person and they are accountable.
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