Hereditary Diseases

[terambulan]

1. Is Alcoholism a disease

2. Is it hereditary

[andy-hughes]

I don't believe it is.

Alcoholism is a psychological condition which depends on a certain mind set and a combination of circumstances to set it off, which is as individual as each person who suffers from it. No two people will ever become alcoholics for exactlly the same reason.

Correspondiongly, hereditary conditions depend on an inherited gene pool which provide duplicate conditions for a disease to commence and thrive.

As a point of interest, my father was an alcoholic, I however, never developed a taste for any alcohol, and I have been tee-total all my life. I should point out that I was unaware of my father's alcoholism until i was in my twenties, so it had no bearing on my dislike of the taste.

[pink_chick]

I throughly agree with Andy on the psychological basis. However, there are Alcohol-related neurologic diseases which includes Wernicke-Korsakoff disease, and diseases of the liver (lots of info provided on the net about these diseases).

Also, follow the link provided for a little further insight into your question:
http://alcoholism.about.com/cs/info2/a/aa02269 7.htm
[Accessed 18-06-2008]

[andy-hughes]

I neglected to respond fully to the first part of your Question -
I don;t think alcoholism itself is a 'disease' in the true sense of the word, rather it is a condition, but the physical effects of its psychological damage do result in specific diseases, as pink_chick ha so eloquently described.

[jake-the-peg]

1/ depends what you call a disease

2/ yes

By that I don't mean in the simple sense that if you have two alcoholic parents you *will be* an alcoholic but you will have a higher chance of becoming one.

Classic experiment:

A large group of mice had there water replaced with ethanol solution. After a while water feeders were reintroduced with them.

Most mice went back to water but some preferred the "mouse vodka"

The groups were split up and cross bred and the experiment repeated.

The alcohol preferring mice had a much higher proportion of off spring that too preferred alcohol.


Other work also pointing to this details here:

http://209.180.175.75/becalmd/alcohol.htm

Unfortunately a lot of people come to this question with baggage - they want to believe that it's "poor moral fibre" because a genetic componant is seen as an "excuse"

The other baggage is that people often don't like the idea that our free will is in some way compromised.

The idea that many of our personality traits - such as tendency to take risks or how happy we are - could be inherited is totally at odds with the way they see the world

[andy-hughes]

jake, I cannot really see the comparions between complex emotional experiences and addicition in humans equating to a basic experiment with mice.

I think the logic here is seriously flawed.

If it's grey and has a tail, it's a mouse.

If it's a mouse, it's atached to a computer.

All mice are connected tro computefs.

Logic doesn't always work.

[andy-hughes]

And sometimes, neither do my fingers!

[terambulan]

Please....no squabbling.....I have grandchildren I am concerned for. Thnx for info so far.

I accept children reared in proximity to alcohol may 'taste' it and therefore develop the addiction.

Many european children drink wine etc from an early age but am sure they dont grow into alcoholics?

Another concern is mum/dad giving baby a 'tot' to put them to sleep.....spose this could turn into addiction?

[Eve]

My parents introduced me to alcohol at a very early age, wine with meals, mulled wine at Christmas etc...

Getting drunk was not even a consideration, it was all in moderation.

I grew up to appreciate it as a treat and something to savour and enjoy and that's stayed with me.

[Velvetee]

I thought the boffins were now saying there is an alcoholic gene, which would mean alcoholism can be hereditary.

It's a funny thing, I know people, including myself, who've grown up with an alcoholic parent and they tend to go one way or the other. They either become alcoholics or are almost if not totally tea total. I for one have never enjoyed the taste of alcohol and rarely drink it.

[jake-the-peg]

That's a very poor argument Andy.

If you'd examined the link you'd see that there's a huge raft of evidence for this and it doesn't rely soley on one experiment on mice.

That experiment is just a very simple and graphic one that is easy to grasp which is why I quoted it.

Sexual attraction is a complex and emotional response too but few would doubt the idea that we're driven to it by genetic programming.

[andy-hughes]

I take your point on the 'mouse' argument jake, but I have to disagree about the sexual compulsion which is programmed into us.

We are programmed to reproduce because if we were not, our species would die out, so reproductive urges are a vital and essential ingredient of our subconcious make-up.

I don't think the same rationale can be applied to addiciton to alcohol, or ineed, any other drug.

[David H]

Hello Andy, good to see you around again.

There is a gene in some alcoholics that does make them many times more sensitive to it, and if that's the case then some will be a disease and genetic.

I suspect many more though do not have it and are just trying to wipe out the unpleasant reality of their lives in a way that is a lot worse. There's no gene for other addictions so far so probably just a personality defect in most cases