Are Addicts Genetically Predestined to Being Addicts?

[editec]

I believe some people are predisposed to addiction and become addicted rather easily while some people have to work very hard to become addicted.

What's more some people are more likely to get addicted to some things while other people are more likely to get addicted to other things.

How many of you people reading this are morbidly overweight?

ARe you choosing to eat yourselves into early graves, or are you for some reason, compelled to stuff you faces?


And some stuff?

Well hell folks anybody who does some drugs WILL become adicted to them.

Its fairly hard to do cocaine for example, and not want another line immediately.

Yeah, that's already an addictive behavior.

Some shit is just nasty stuff that, if ya do it enough, you are going to develop addiction behaviors around it.

 

[code1211]

I say no.

I firmly believe that we create every experience in our lives. Good, bad and everything in between. WE control our minds, our minds do not control us. WE choose what to think, our brain does not tell us what to think. For some though, being a victim is easier than making a 'moral choice' or claiming personal responsibility.

I also believe that our biography becomes our biology. In other words, our life choices affect our health. Emotional, psychological and physical stress contributes to the development of illness. So not only are we responsible for all experiences in our lives, we are also responsible for the creation of our health, good or bad.

While bowing to the notion that we are captain of our own ships, I do believe that any bodily function is unique to each body.

So, one person smokes a cigarette for the first time and thinks ,"Yuk! this is horrible!", puts it down and never picks it up again. Another overcomes the the initial "Yuk" reaction and quits a year later and another smokes for 30 years and cannot quit despite numerous attempts.

Some people like the taste of wine or beer or Scotch and others do not.

Some people like exercise and others do not. Food, drink, drugs, sex and so forth.

The pleasure or pain within is often reflected by what we exhibit on the outside.

In this sense, the propensity toward addiction is very likely inborn to many. It's unlikely that a person who throws up every time he drinks will become an alcoholic.

So, while we are the captain of our ships, some of the ships may have a hole in the hull or a rip in the sails.

 

[code1211]

I think people with a history of drug and substance abuse in their family do have a higher chance of falling into that themselves, for example if your father and mother were both coke heads, its probably a good idea to stay away from ALL drugs, even the buddha. If your father and grandfather were both raging alcoholics, its probably a good idea to stay off the sauce.

But staying off the sauce is a choice, right?

I am not trying to pick an argument with you, but I have a family history of alcoholism, and I do love to get shit-faced drunk. But I dont do it nights prior to work, or drive after I get so fucked up.

And I only drink maybe three times in a month, if that.

But I am not an alcoholic and I can say no to a drink. Went 6 months without taking a single drink and can do it again any time I want.

I think some people need to hear that they can control their actions and therefore have responsibility to do so. To play this thing like our actions are determined by either society or genetics is presumptive and contrary to my experience.

I also have a history of Alcoholism in my family, but i don't happen to like the taste of liquor.

I am less prone to that problem than you given my dislike of the stuff.

I do, however spend allot of time in here, so there's that...

 

[code1211]

That comes under social environment. No one is born with a fully fledged morality.

No one is born with a full fledged morality any more than they are born with a full fledged development of any sort.

But if the person is born in a morally neutral environment, the instinct to morality is still there and drives one toward a more moral behavior that can become fully mature in the most basic areas.

This is why almost every civilization from the Egyptians to the modern Japanese recognise the majority of a basic set of morality though they were not in contact with each other.

Morality is imprinted on the human heart and if we listen to it we can get moral issues right 90% of the time.

I'm not sure that morality has much to do with full fledged addiction.

 

[Dragon]

Strong historical support for the idea of a genetic component to addiction is found in what happened to the Native Americans when they encountered alcohol. A huge majority of Native Americans turned out to be predisposed to alcoholism and lacked the ability to drink responsibly. What I suspect is that, when the Old World discovered alcohol, which probably happened in the proto-civilized transition period between hunter-gatherer society and the building of the first cities, the result was a massive epidemic of alcoholism, and we're descended from the survivors, so that most of us have developed a tolerance for the drug.

If you talk to recovering alcoholics, you find that they're people who can't have a couple of drinks and stop. If they start, they won't stop until they're too drunk to drink any more. But I don't have that problem, and neither do most people; I can have a beer, a glass of wine, or a cocktail or two, get mildly buzzed, and stop.

I've also used other drugs that are highly addictive in the past, including both tobacco and cocaine. I use neither one now, and although I was mildly addicted to tobacco for a while, I found it quite possible to stop. Cocaine I never used enough to develop any withdrawal symptoms. So I think I just don't have an addictive personality. That's not due to any huge strength of will on my part, I think.

As for morality, where it comes in is how you deal with your biological situation. If you find you are an alcoholic, there's a simple solution: don't drink. Don't drink at all. Ever. And some people can do that. But even so, the first rule they learn is that they are alcoholics and will always be alcoholics, even if they don't drink.

 

[JimBowie1958]

A high is a chemical reaction folks.

Peoples inherited chemical systems can effect their addiction.

Its fucking science and fact.

Of course it can effect, but the question is does it determine?

Effect - yes
Determine - no

 

[JimBowie1958]

That comes under social environment. No one is born with a fully fledged morality.

No one is born with a full fledged morality any more than they are born with a full fledged development of any sort.

But if the person is born in a morally neutral environment, the instinct to morality is still there and drives one toward a more moral behavior that can become fully mature in the most basic areas.

This is why almost every civilization from the Egyptians to the modern Japanese recognise the majority of a basic set of morality though they were not in contact with each other.

Morality is imprinted on the human heart and if we listen to it we can get moral issues right 90% of the time.

I'm not sure that morality has much to do with full fledged addiction.

Then why does AA emphasize the need for faith in God so much?

The morality here is little more than knowing that God can give you the strength to escape the addiction and to know that it is in fact possible.

 

[JimBowie1958]

I think people with a history of drug and substance abuse in their family do have a higher chance of falling into that themselves, for example if your father and mother were both coke heads, its probably a good idea to stay away from ALL drugs, even the buddha. If your father and grandfather were both raging alcoholics, its probably a good idea to stay off the sauce.

But staying off the sauce is a choice, right?

I am not trying to pick an argument with you, but I have a family history of alcoholism, and I do love to get shit-faced drunk. But I dont do it nights prior to work, or drive after I get so fucked up.

And I only drink maybe three times in a month, if that.

But I am not an alcoholic and I can say no to a drink. Went 6 months without taking a single drink and can do it again any time I want.

I think some people need to hear that they can control their actions and therefore have responsibility to do so. To play this thing like our actions are determined by either society or genetics is presumptive and contrary to my experience.

I also have a history of Alcoholism in my family, but i don't happen to like the taste of liquor.

I am less prone to that problem than you given my dislike of the stuff.

Yeah, I do love alcohol. I love the taste, especially petrone, and the warm feeling that flows down my spine loosening up all those tightened tendons and muscles.

I dont like how it turns me into a goof that wants to make friends with everyone in the bar. God I hate waking up and remembering all the silly things I did to get a laugh or a warm smile from total strangers.

I do, however spend allot of time in here, so there's that...

lol, another form of addiction maybe?

 

[JimBowie1958]

you inherit you chemical system from your parents.

Not all people are born the same.

Deny science all you like it jsut makes you look dull

I dont deny anything you just said.

I do deny that those facts remove your personal choice or lessen your responsibility.

 

[LAfrique]

Brains of addicts are inherently abnormal: study

Drug addicts have inherited abnormalities in some parts of the brain which interfere with impulse control, said a British study published in the United States on Thursday.
Previous research has pointed to these differences, but it was unclear if they resulted from the ravages of addiction or if they were there beforehand to predispose a person to drug abuse.

Scientists at the University of Cambridge compared the brains of addicts to their non-addicted siblings as well as to healthy, unrelated volunteers and found that the siblings shared many of the same weaknesses in their brains.

That indicates that the brain vulnerabilities had a family origin, though somehow the siblings of addicts -- either due to environmental factors or other differences in brain structure -- were able to resist addiction.

"Presumably, the siblings must have some other resilience factors that counteract the familial vulnerability to drug dependence," said the study led by Karen Ersche of the University of Cambridge, published in the journal Science.

"An individual's predisposition to become addicted to stimulant drugs may be mediated by brain abnormalities linked to impaired self-control."

It is interesting how the scientists doing the research see only two possibilities in explaining behavior: social environment or genetic predisposition; what ever happened to "moral choice"?

Or maybe there is only a predisposition to addiction and their behavior cemented this predisposition by altering their brain even further by their behavior?

It has been shown that behavior affects brain development and shanges it even in adulthood over years of repeated behavior.

I feel very skeptical that the brain DETERMINES our behavior, but only can stack the deck some so that we are more likely to follow in that direction.


But all of us always have a choice with each thing we do.

While what your parents ate while you were being sent into your mama womb and what your mama ate while you were developing in her womb affects the foundation of your disposition, habits are learned and you can break any heredity by simply changing your eating habit: Your eating habit is not only responsible for problems occurring anywhere in your body, but for how a lot of things turn out in your overall life.

 

[code1211]

you inherit you chemical system from your parents.

Not all people are born the same.

Deny science all you like it jsut makes you look dull

I dont deny anything you just said.

I do deny that those facts remove your personal choice or lessen your responsibility.

It's just silly to not accept that every body has a set of predispositions. If i have a genetic malformation in my feet, i may will myself to run fast, but it ain't gonna happen. If I'm very short, i probably won't be able to dunk. the strength of my will has nothing to do with the outcome.

The same is true of various addictions.

 

[JimBowie1958]

you inherit you chemical system from your parents.

Not all people are born the same.

Deny science all you like it jsut makes you look dull

I dont deny anything you just said.

I do deny that those facts remove your personal choice or lessen your responsibility.

It's just silly to not accept that every body has a set of predispositions. If i have a genetic malformation in my feet, i may will myself to run fast, but it ain't gonna happen. If I'm very short, i probably won't be able to dunk. the strength of my will has nothing to do with the outcome.

The same is true of various addictions.

No, these are different things.

An alcoholic can choose to give up alcohol and millions do over time.

A person with a clubbed foot cant simply decide to not have a clubbed foot.

At least not yet as far as I know.