Is it because growing up with an alcoholic parent psychologically gravitates you towards it as well? If this is the case then I can understand that. But I’ve read that it’s genetic as well. How does that work if a parent became an alcoholic after their child was born? Or is it both psychological and genetic?
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I think it’s safer to say that addiction is more likely an executive function disorder or related to dopamine disregulation. I grew up with an alcoholic parent and after watching how my Dad suffered I am very cautious about my drinking. There’s weeks I don’t drink at all, and then there’s weekends where I will have a few. He died when I was 12 and my uncle died when I was 17. I did start drinking at around 16, and my usage increased into my early twenties and now in my late thirties I drink rarely. I know that alcoholism runs in my family, my grandmother has told me her father was a drinker and that my grandfather was also a drinker. I feel like the drinking can be an escape from daily life and in time it can become your life, chasing that high again. My Dad would drink his first beer getting us ready for school and would drink all day while working around the house. My Mom would work nights and he would encourage her to go to bed soon after she got home in the morning so he could drink all day. I still carry the trauma with me of watching my Dad stumble around the garage and of having to help him go to the bathroom, along with watching him die of jaundice.
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