We are all literally a living being made up of all of our ancestors and I believe our past life selves as well. In saying that, it has been documented in German New Medicine studies, (I’ll link a website to this framework) of people experiencing seemingly unexplainable symptoms, only to find out these symptoms are related to an unresolved conflict of a relative. Generational trauma absolutely plays a role in how we are raised and therefore how see the world as LAB shared. In the end, as many people are pointing out here, we all have the choice to change the cycle of trauma and addiction to truly heal. I think this is what is unfolding in our world these days, people are making the choice to end generational wounds and rise above them to make this realm a happier place to be. This will take time but I can see the shift happening.
We are also highly influenced/indoctrinated by propaganda and it’s obvious that certain people are making money from addictive substances being made readily available for us to consume. Have you heard of the documentary called Century of the Self? I’ll link it here for anyone who’s interested, it’s long and I haven’t yet watched it all but one day I will. [MIRROR] The Century Of The Self (2002) > The Designed Mass Influence Of Society
German New Medicine is a framework of looking at how our body works, how the psyche, brain and organ are all connected. @Matt Thought you might be interested in diving into this information. The 5 biological laws are a good place to start. Welcome to LearningGNM
Very interesting topic. My mom never smoked, did drugs and hardly ever drank. My dad smoked cigarettes before I was born but quit when my mom was pregnant. My aunts don’t smoke or drink. I found out my grandpa on my mom’s side was an alcoholic, so much so that my mom and aunts sometimes had to go without food and other items because he would spend all his money on alcohol. Interestingly enough he liked whiskey which was my drink of choice. I don’t know much about my dad’s side of the family because of divorces and his side isn’t really close.
100% true. That’s what keeps me getting up every day and working on my life
My grandpa on my dad’s side struggled a lot himself, not with addiction in his case - it was a mental health struggle, minus addiction - but it caused the family significant financial hardship. That side of the family (my dad’s dad, and my dad’s siblings) was more distant; we saw them much less often than my mom’s side. There’s an alienation that happens in families with these struggles. It’s painful sometimes. For me I didn’t realize the difference between the two sides of the family until I was in my 30s.
That’s a fresh perspective on this - I like that, it gets me thinking. Everyone has some set of things that give them sensual pleasures, and if the central question is finding freedom from that wheel of dependency (like you describe in your reference to Buddhist principles), then it seems to me it’s a liberating, empowering idea. This is a struggle - an effort - that every human goes through. In that way, it’s something common to many people, regardless of genetics.
Thanks so much for this topic! This is a special interest of mine, so I have researched it quite a bit.
Below is where I came out. Happy to provide some sources if anyone is interested in articles / data to back this up. Happy to talk about what I have learned about any of these topics further. Since I am an alcoholic, I will focus on that, but any significant addiction follows similar patterns.
First off, while inheritance is a very big factor, anyone can eventually become an alcoholic. Some of us are unfortunately designed in a way that the addiction takes hold faster, and then holds on more tightly and for longer. Some things that make you at higher risk for addiction are biologically focused and absolutely genetic; they relate to the way that different brains react to alcohol. Some things are behavioral, which are technically genetic as our behaviors are influenced by both nature and nurture, but behavioral tendencies are different than the physical biology components, which typically relate to how your endocrine system and nervous system physically work. Some are absolutely cultural, if your parents were alcoholics, the habits and behaviors they passed on related to emotional processing, leisure time, open communication, can all have an impact.
Biological level - addiction is literally a re-wiring of your brain that impacts your decision making. Your brain rewires so that your subconscious is literally working against you. The parts of your brain that regulate hunger, thirst, sleep, sex, and relationships are parts that get rewired towards alcoholism the most. The knowledge that neuroplasticity is so pervasive throughout our lives is actually a very young discovery (20ish years?). When I was in college early this millennia, we were taught that your brain re-wires when you are very young, then again during early adolescence (which is why teenage boys are so dumb, female re-wiring takes place at a younger age), and then finally again during middle age, around the time of menopause (for both men and women, interestingly, but stronger for women). It was thought that your brain pretty much stays the same for the other parts of your life. It does not. Neuroplasticity is ongoing throughout your life, but is obviously stronger in some situations than others. A human being’s susceptibility to neuroplasticity in response to alcohol is different person to person, and for a single person, is different at different times of their life. One of, but not the only, primary drivers of susceptibility to neuroplasticity in addiction is how a person’s dopamine system responds to alcohol (or, your substance of choice). In about 20% of the population, dopamine dumps from ethanol rival the impact of cocaine on how the person’s brain responds to ethanol. These people are much more likely to become alcoholics. There is no question that this is a genetically inherited trait. So, the fact that genetics plays at least some part is not really questioned by modern science. The only question is how much and through what factors.
Behavioral - there are some types of people that are more likely to become addicted than others. Some of behavioral traits are:
Poor emotional processing - here men are terrible. Push it down, bottle it up, don’t have feelings. Alcohol is amazing at helping us temporarily forget about negative emotions. That temptation to use alcohol to ignore emotions is stronger in some people more than others.
Isolationism - are you a self-starter that loathes seeking help? Bad news, that means alcoholism is going to be more trouble for you if you go to far down the path. Stopping when you are just at the problem drinking phase is best not to be done alone.
Health awareness - surprise, surprise, those people that like to stay fit can become alcoholics, but don’t as often as the people that focus less on health awareness.
Cultural
Acceptability - if alcohol consumption was the normal around you growing up, guess what, you are at higher risk. If drunkenness was shameful, you are less likely (but not immune!)
Support networks - Do you have strong-deep support networks? This can be extended family, spiritual / religious, fraternal / sororal, even focused on some leisure activity like a sport or artistic hobby. If you are more of a loner that likes to read books more than talk to people, another warning sign.
Trauma - dealing with trauma is the most often real issue with addiction. Every trauma is different, but more trauma is worse.
All three of these factors can be inherited from your family, whether they are nurture or nature. The good news: there is nothing that makes it impossible for you to recover.
For me, my risk factors include:
I LOVED alcohol. Some people, when they hit bottom, say that alcohol wasn’t even fun for them anymore. It just helped them feel normal. Not me. Even at my very bottom, drinking from a bottle of bourbon in front of TV alone was very, very fun, even if I knew I would eventually pay for it with a 3 day hangover / withdrawal at some point in the future when I fell off the cliff. I haven’t been tested, but one of my Docs explained that, if you have more energy after your 3rd drink than before your first, and alcohol doesn’t really help you relax until you are seriously smoked, you are likely pre-disposed to stronger dopamine dumps from ethanol.
I am absolutely a stubborn loaner. I am a serial entrepreneur with varying levels of success. The most common trait in entrepreneurs is the inability to give up when you are obviously behind. That inability to admit defeat has not been helpful to me in my fight with alcohol. I got into the ring with Mr. Moderation time and time again, believing I could win this time when it should have been obvious that I could not. My unwillingness to get help, and belief that I could accomplish anything by myself if I put my mind to it, has been a huge obstacle for me.
I feel emotions strongly. Studying the enneagram was helpful here. I actually didn’t realize that I was so emotional until my therapist told me that my responses to emotion were higher than most people. In good times, that is pretty awesome. The amount of joy I can feel can be a huge motivator. In times of trouble, that is a problem. If I get frustrated, my propensity to slip into depression is not great. Fighting those negative feelings with alcohol to reset worked excellently, until it didn’t.
I learn quickly. This is the only part of my post that is mostly speculation, but I think that people that have certain brain processing patterns are likely to experience neuroplasticity stronger. My daughter, who is an occupational therapist, says that I am very close to the autism spectrum disorder based on how I think, what I am good at, what I am bad at, etc. When I was growing up, people like me were just called nerds, or that I have a low emotional IQ. I think now we are more comfortable saying that different brains organize themselves differently. I think we will see more scientific study about this in the coming years.
Sorry for the wall of words, but typing this all out was helpful to me. Hopefully you are able to pick something out of it too.
