Are Addicts Genetically Predestined to Being Addicts?

[JimBowie1958]

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 behavvior 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 behvaior, 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.

 

[Truthmatters]

I thought this was found long ago.

 

[konradv]

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 behavvior 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 behvaior, 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.

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

 

[masquerade]

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.

 

[High_Gravity]

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.

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[High_Gravity]

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 believe that some people because of their family history may have a higher chance of being an alcoholic, drug addict etc etc but like you said it is a choice, if you know you have that kind of history you need to take more care when it comes to issues like drugs, alcohol etc, bottom line is every adult is reponsible for their own choices at the end of the day.

 

[Truthmatters]

A high is a chemical reaction folks.

Peoples inherited chemical systems can effect their addiction.

Its fucking science and fact.

 

[JimBowie1958]

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.

Totally agree and admire the way you said it.

 

[Truthmatters]

under your thinking a Diabetic should be able to change without medication

 

[slackjawed]

under your thinking a Diabetic should be able to change without medication

I have a tumor (insulonoma) on my pancreas that causes me to suffer diabetes type 1.5, or "x-syndrome".
I tried the regimen of drugs for awhile.

But once I got educated about my situation I got off the drugs and control this with my diet and daily exercise.


I made my own conscious choice to go off the drugs and have a better life for it. Drugs hold no miracles and are to be avoided whenever possible.

This diabetic did change without medication, and in the past six years have helped others, even one with type one since he was a child, make the choice to educate themselves and make it possible to get off the insulin.

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk

 

[Truthmatters]

and your body chemistry is effected by the food you eat the the exersize you perform.

 

[OohPooPahDoo]

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 behavvior 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 behvaior, 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.

Addition is a disease.

That being said - if someone has disease and they refuse treatment - and they die, its their fault.

Addicts tend to not want to treat their disease. My best friend from high school later in life became a heroin addict. He lost two careers, his wife and 3 children, and his dignity - having relapsed more times than anyone can count. After banging the equity in his home up his arm and amassing tens of thousands of dollars in credit card debt and failing out of graduate school, his "last chances" finally ran out and his wife did the right thing and put him out. Unfortunately I was also his landlord during this last phase, and when cleaning his crap out I found needles - indicating that he was using all the way up until the end.

I've come to the reasonable conclusion that he never wanted to treat his disease. He wanted to quit, sure, but he didn't want to actually have to put any effort into quiting. He never wanted to man up and do what it took.

A junkie not in recovery is a worthless pieces of shit. If you ask a junkie about heroin and they don't start ranting about how they go to AA and NA meetings all the time and how the 12 steps saved their life and how they've been working their recovery for X number of years and are really close with their sponsor, etc. .... then they are using pieces of shit. The moment a junkie isn't ecstatic about the fact they aren't using junk - you can know for a fact they are back on it.

 

[Old Rocks]

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.

Simplification to the point of idiocy. People are born with genetic problems. People suffer injuries being born that cause cerebrial palsy. Diseases of the childhood have repercussions as we age.

The culture we are raised in controls a lot of the ways the we reason. The resources available to us determine how much of our natural talents that we can develop. Achievements in life are a combination of luck and talent. You have to have both.

 

[Old Rocks]

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 behavvior 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 behvaior, 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.

Addition is a disease.

That being said - if someone has disease and they refuse treatment - and they die, its their fault.

Addicts tend to not want to treat their disease. My best friend from high school later in life became a heroin addict. He lost two careers, his wife and 3 children, and his dignity - having relapsed more times than anyone can count. After banging the equity in his home up his arm and amassing tens of thousands of dollars in credit card debt and failing out of graduate school, his "last chances" finally ran out and his wife did the right thing and put him out. Unfortunately I was also his landlord during this last phase, and when cleaning his crap out I found needles - indicating that he was using all the way up until the end.

I've come to the reasonable conclusion that he never wanted to treat his disease. He wanted to quit, sure, but he didn't want to actually have to put any effort into quiting. He never wanted to man up and do what it took.

A junkie not in recovery is a worthless pieces of shit. If you ask a junkie about heroin and they don't start ranting about how they go to AA and NA meetings all the time and how the 12 steps saved their life and how they've been working their recovery for X number of years and are really close with their sponsor, etc. .... then they are using pieces of shit. The moment a junkie isn't ecstatic about the fact they aren't using junk - you can know for a fact they are back on it.

Well, I kind of felt that way about calculus.

 

[JimBowie1958]

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.

Simplification to the point of idiocy. People are born with genetic problems. People suffer injuries being born that cause cerebrial palsy. Diseases of the childhood have repercussions as we age.

The culture we are raised in controls a lot of the ways the we reason. The resources available to us determine how much of our natural talents that we can develop. Achievements in life are a combination of luck and talent. You have to have both.

Yes, we all have our weaknesses and some of us have tougher ones than normal, but telling people that have severe difficulties that these weaknesses excuse them from controling it or that they are any less responsible JUST UNDERCUTS THEIR ABILITY TO CONTROL ANYTHING.

AA is great for helping people KNOW that they can resist temptation and provide workable paths of behavior for the worst alcoholics that are based on nearly a century of experience, not the latest scifi fad among anthropologists or shrinks.

 

[JimBowie1958]

Brains of addicts are inherently abnormal: study



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 behavvior 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 behvaior, 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.

Addition is a disease.

That being said - if someone has disease and they refuse treatment - and they die, its their fault.

Addicts tend to not want to treat their disease. My best friend from high school later in life became a heroin addict. He lost two careers, his wife and 3 children, and his dignity - having relapsed more times than anyone can count. After banging the equity in his home up his arm and amassing tens of thousands of dollars in credit card debt and failing out of graduate school, his "last chances" finally ran out and his wife did the right thing and put him out. Unfortunately I was also his landlord during this last phase, and when cleaning his crap out I found needles - indicating that he was using all the way up until the end.

I've come to the reasonable conclusion that he never wanted to treat his disease. He wanted to quit, sure, but he didn't want to actually have to put any effort into quiting. He never wanted to man up and do what it took.

A junkie not in recovery is a worthless pieces of shit. If you ask a junkie about heroin and they don't start ranting about how they go to AA and NA meetings all the time and how the 12 steps saved their life and how they've been working their recovery for X number of years and are really close with their sponsor, etc. .... then they are using pieces of shit. The moment a junkie isn't ecstatic about the fact they aren't using junk - you can know for a fact they are back on it.

Well, I kind of felt that way about calculus.

Yeah, the addition thing threw me off for a second too, lol. Good response though I do agree with the Grand PooPooBah this time.

 

[JimBowie1958]

under your thinking a Diabetic should be able to change without medication

We are talking about drug ADDICTION not dependency due to metabolic issues like Diabetese.

Sheesh!

I have met people who were once so dependent on alcohol that if you didnt let them drink it would literally kill them, but who are now alcohol free and havent touched it in years.

Your assumption is that they cant change any more than a diabetic can?

That is sad.

 

[Truthmatters]

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