re: Alcoholism - learned, genetic or both?

Both

Words of wisdom ole man. I recently lost one of my very best friends to alcoholism. He went out full throttle, drinking every day until it was time to go.

It makes me sad.

I refuse to get involved in the academic discussion of whether alcoholism is learned, acquired, genetic, a disease, a matter of weak will, etc. It makes no difference. I have seen far too many people ruin their lives or die while trying to figure it out.

The fact is, if alcohol or drugs are affecting your life adversely (at home, in a marriage, financially, at work, etc.) it’s time to admit that you cannot handle it. A problem I had difficulty accepting, but eventually came to admit. It’s been about 20 years since I have last been drunk. I actually did 9 years prior to that and thought that I had it beaten. Clearly, I did not.

So, whether I have a disease, am terribly weak willed, learned destructive behavior, inherited a bad gene, a combination of some or all of the above, or something else, I cannot drink alcohol without it eventually having a serious and bad impact on my life. If alcohol killed me, would it really make any difference if I inherited a gene or learned a behavior?

I have the option to drink alcohol, it’s just that it is a bad option for me. So, I have to take responsibility for whether I choose to remain sober.

I hated AA when I first got sober. I thought it was a cult. But I will say that I tried quitting alcohol many, many times before getting sober. It never stuck. Finally listening to people who had strung days, weeks, months and years of sobriety together got me sober. I do not go to as many meeting as I did in my first few years, but I know that if I need to talk to another recovering drunk, there is a meeting available.

All I can say to anyone who is trying to quit is, do whatever you need to do to put as much distance between today and your last drink. AA helped me and I think that anyone who is serious about getting sober should give it a try. It’s actually pretty simple, don’t drink, go to a meeting, and help another drunk.

Good luck to anyone who is trying to quit.

Time for me to get back to work.

I took a certain test one time and was told I failed because I was at risk for substance abuse. My dad had a previous DWI and my brother had prior arrest for poss of CDS. I was told that I was at risk and the company's insurance policy could not cover me.

I would like to hear more from ot on this subject

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like everything else in life, it is a learned behavior

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didn't know you could teach "cancer"

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did know you could teach "cancer"

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I love this comparison. Just because the AMA folded to Christian popular opinion and labeled alcoholism a "disease", it doesn't put it on the same level as cancer or anything else. Bottom line is it's a behavior that's hard to stop, if you want to chalk that up to mental illness go ahead. But don't get all pious and start equating it to actual diseases. You can't pray cancer away but the good folks at aa meetings would have you believe it works for this disease (spoiler alert, it doesn't). Calling alcoholism a disease doesn't make addiction more serious it just take away from the seriousness of the word "disease".

By the way, serious post. This is one of like three things I post about seriously on here.

In my opinion, It was labeled a disease simply so that insurance could pay for treatment.

I don't get hung up on that. I'm definitely not one of those people who blame my actions on a "disease".

There's evidence if you cast aside the whole contempt prior to investigation thing. I could introduce you to about 25 guys in Baton Rouge that I know who have been sober for 10+ years. And about 10 guys who have been sober for 25+ years.