Knowing Alcoholism: Causes
Alcoholism is when someone is dependent on drinking alcohol and cannot function in their daily life without it or without craving it. Alcoholism can lead to relationship stress, job loss, jail time, and even death since alcohol becomes a number one priority in a person’s life. Your body and brain both become addicted to the substance and it is a disease that affects both the person and the people that surround them.
While there is no one cause found for alcoholism there are a variety of both genetics and environmental factors.
Genetics
If a family member suffers from alcoholism then a person is more likely to also become an alcoholic. You are three to four times more likely to suffer from alcoholism if you have an alcoholic relative than if you do not have someone in your family who suffers from alcohol. This is due to both genetic factors and also environmental. Growing up around someone with alcoholism automatically puts someone at risk for starting alcohol at a young age. Of course, this doesn’t mean that a person will become an alcoholic if they do have a family member, there are just higher risk factors at play.
Environment
Environment is another factor that plays into the likelihood of becoming an alcoholic. If a person has a stressful job it increases their chances of drinking more heavily, and then leading to alcoholism to relieve that stress. Certain occupations like doctors, nurses, lawyers, and other high stress/demanding employment are at a higher risk if they don’t deal with their stress in a healthy way. In addition, young people are more likely to develop alcoholism the younger they drink since their brains aren’t as developed yet. If they are in families who don’t see alcohol education as important or don’t put rules on drinking then they are more likely to develop alcoholism. The people and crowds that young people hang out with also have a heavy influence on alcoholism.
Mental Health
People who suffer from depression or other mental illnesses like anxiety or schizophrenia are more likely to be alcoholics because they turn to alcohol to help ease the effects of these feelings or mask them. This is especially a problem because alcohol is a depressor. Around 29% of people who suffer from mental illness also abuse a substance. Often alcohol is used to mask symptoms or symptoms are not recognized due to excessive use of alcohol.
It is important to know the signs or alcoholism as well as understand if you are at risk for it. Many factors come into play and none of these factors define the destiny of alcoholism either. If you think that you may be dependent on alcohol or are worried that you are at risk to become so it is important to talk to a doctor or professional and seek out help.
Originally published at brendanquinn.info on February 23, 2017.
