Alcoholism-Learned or Inherited Behavior - Research Paper Example

 Alcoholism-learned or inherited behavior Introduction “More than 100,000 U.S. deaths are caused by excessive alcohol consumption each year. Direct and indirect causes of death include drunk driving, cirrhosis of the liver, falls, cancer, and stroke. Every year, more money is spent promoting the use of alcohol than any other product. Alcohol is a drug, the most commonly used and widely abused psychoactive drug in the world.” (Alcohol) Alcohol addiction or alcoholism may be defined as the continued excessive use of alcohol despite of the health or social problems. Alcoholism may result in severe mental, physical and social problems. The most common physical health problems associated with alcohol consumption are may include liver problems, pancreas problems, epilepsy, alcoholic dementia, heart disease, cancer, nutritional deficiencies, sexual dysfunction etc. Psychological problems like anxiety, depression, psychosis, schizophrenia etc are found to be associated with binge drinkers. Moreover alcoholism can create lot of social problems as well. Divorce, loss of employment, domestic violence, drunk driving are some of the main social problems which may arise from alcoholism. No scientific studies have ever proved any benefits associated with consumption of alcohol. In fact all the studies are pointing towards the negative impacts of alcoholism. Yet majority of people in the world, irrespective of male or female have tasted alcohol at some instances of their life. Some of them may become binge drinkers while others may escape somehow. The reasons for alcoholism are a hotly debated topic among medical experts and psychologists. Some people believe that alcoholism is an inherited behavior while others argue that the environment is more prominent in making a person alcoholic. This paper examines the reasons for alcoholism through the perspectives of genetic factors and environmental factors. Causes of alcoholism The exact causes of alcoholism are still debated among the medical and psychological experts. But researches have shown that environment and heredity plays a vital role in binge drinking. Moreover habitual reasons also may contribute for alcoholism Environmental factors "Addiction occurs in the environment, not in the liver, genes or synapses," says psychologist Timothy B. Baker of the University of Wisconsin in Madison. The likelihood of a person trying a drug or eventually becoming addicted is influenced by his or her friends, marital happiness, the variety and richness of alternative to drug use and so on," Baker contends”. (Bower) Most of the people get the first taste of alcohol from the family or friends. If a person’s parents are drinkers they may quiet often do it in front of their children or they may keep liquors in their home itself. In such cases the motivation for drinking will get from the home itself. Children of binge drinkers may feel that nothing wrong with drinking since they witness their parents doing it quiet regularly. Most of the children consider their parents as their role models at some time of their life and hence whatever the things done by the parents will be considered legal and useful by the children. “65% of youth surveyed said that they got the alcohol they drink from family and friends.” (Alcohol) “Social factors such as the influence of family, peers, and society, and the availability of alcohol, and psychological factors such as elevated levels of stress, inadequate coping mechanisms, and reinforcement of alcohol use from other drinkers can contribute to alcoholism.” (Alcoholism) In some cases people get motivation for drinking from their friends and peers. Friends may explain the pleasure they were getting out of liquors and they will encourage others to experience it. “Expectations and beliefs about alcohol's power to make one feel better shape the choices leading to alcohol addiction, according to one line of investigation. The most notable of these beliefs, says psychologist G. Alan Marlatt of the University of Washington in Seattle, is that alcohol acts as a magical elixir that enhances social and physical pleasure, increases sexual responsiveness and assertiveness, and reduces tension” (Bower) A person who is under the influence of alcohol may be relieved from any sort of tension temporarily. Tension or stress is associated with most of the activities in the social work. Family, society or the work place, all will act as the sources of stress because of a variety of reasons. This may force a person to depend on something which may relieve him/her from experiencing immense stress. Moreover the influence of alcohol increases the social and physical pleasure along with the increased sexual responsiveness. A drinker in the company of other drinkers may feel better because of their similarity in beliefs and activities. “Drinking alcohol in sexual situations may increase the likelihood of intercourse depending on what drinking means to the individual. Alcohol consumption also increases the likelihood of indiscriminate sexual behaviors, but this may be moderated by the individual’s stage in a relationship (Goldman, Ph.D.Boyd, Ph.D. & Faden, Ph.D., p.8) Alcohol can provoke sexual activities more and the persons under the influence of alcohol may experience more pleasure from sexual activities. This will force him to use alcohol more and more. He may compare the pleasure he obtained from sexual activities with and without alcoholic influence and may conclude that alcohol is a vital tonic for deriving more pleasure from sexual activities. “Studies have indicated that religiosity is inversely related to drinking and sociability positively related to drinking” (Goldman, Ph.D. Boyd, Ph.D. & Faden, Ph.D., p.6) Religion and religious belief is inversely proportional to alcoholism. When the religious belief increases alcoholism decreases and when religious belief decreases alcoholism increases. Religion is a factor which prevents persons from drinking since most of the religions asking believers to refrain from things which dictate them. Believers often think that alcohol consumption is a sin and moreover it can lead them to unethical behaviors or activities. Strong believers thus avoid the influence of alcohol from their life. On the other hand sociability is directly proportional to alcoholism. High level of social interactions may lead to alcoholism. For example in most of the ceremonies or celebrations like wedding, birth day parties, formal company executives meeting etc alcohol is an essential drink. Even nondrinkers may be forced to taste it for the company sake or to keep the formalities. Thus environment plays a vital role in the making of a drinker as evident from the discussions above. But there are cases in which people overcome temptations for drinking despite of the environment suitable for drinking. It is not necessary that all the persons living in an alcohol friendly environment may develop alcoholism. I have studied in different and distant schools and colleges and hence I forced to stay in school or college hostels. Most of the roommates during my college/school days were binge drinkers. They forced me several times to join their company at least once. I have resisted all the temptations successfully. I left the room whenever possible when they started to drink and will come back only after they relieved from the hangover. I can safely say that the environment never influenced me to change my life habits as far as drinking is concerned. Genetic factors “Studies examining adopted children have shown that children of alcoholic biological parents have an increased risk of becoming alcoholics. Relatively recent research has implicated a gene (D2 dopamine receptor gene) that, when inherited in a specific form, might increase a person's chance of developing alcoholism”. (Alcoholism) In Denmark, scientists found that the sons of alcoholics were about four times more likely to be alcoholic than sons of non-alcoholics. Although no specific gene has been identified as being responsible for alcoholism, researchers have found differences in the levels of a couple of key chemicals in the brain. One is dopamine, a substance that creates natural highs as part of the brain's reward circuit. One theory is that people predisposed to alcoholism are born with abnormally low dopamine levels, and so don't experience the natural, everyday joys that others do. For them, that first drink changes everything. Dopamine's primary function is to stimulate people to do the things that are good for their survival. It causes the euphoria that accompanies sex, good food and exercise. But for some people, alcohol tricks the reward system into producing dopamine, giving them a sense of euphoria that comes with being drunk. Ultimately, alcohol takes over the reward process, dominating the production of dopamine to the exclusion of healthy activities. But its effects begin to taper off over time, forcing people to drink more to get the same sense of well-being. (Newhouse)   No doubt that, heredity contributes heavily to the making of a person into alcoholic. Dopamine is a gene which affects the brain’s reward system. The children of alcoholic parents may have low levels of dopamine and hence they may feel lack of rewards for their activities from others. So they will not get enough pleasure from their activities and hence the thirst for recognition may increase. The first taste of alcohol may change the whole course of their life. They were already vulnerable to the alcohol phobia because of their genetic reasons (Dopamine) and hence the first taste of alcohol may stimulate their drinking activities and may become binge drinkers in future. DRD2 is the first gene that has proven to have any link toward affecting the outcome of alcoholism in humans. The presence of DRD2 gene need not be the exact cause of alcoholism. But studies have shown that the presence of this gene can trigger the thirst for alcoholism for a person more than another person without this gene. “Certain personality characteristics, which are partly inherited, influence the risk of getting addicted. People who are often anxious, and who seek excitement in life, and who are more antisocial, will more often become alcoholics.” (Is Alcoholism Hereditary?) Personality plays a vital role in the making of an alcoholic. Personality of a person is developed through inherited traits and environmental factors. Some people may have unnecessary worries and anxieties because of their personality problem or genetic factors. Such people may seek some alternatives to get rid of their anxiety or personal worries and often may find liquor as a savior. “Researchers have shown that the lack of endorphin is hereditary, and thus that there is a genetic predisposition to become addicted to alcohol. Beta-endorphin is a kind of "morphine" released by the brain in response to several situations, such as pain.” (Alcohol Abuse Is Hereditary) It is a pain killer. When the amount of beta endorphin decreases because of genetic factors our body or brain will seek external sources to fill the vacancy. Alcohol can stimulate the production of beta endorphin and hence our body will seek for it unknowingly. The endorphin level may not affect all people in the same way. Some subjects will be more vulnerable to alcohol in the absence or lack of endorphin level in the body. It is not necessarily right that everyone who grows up in a home with an alcoholic is bound to be an alcoholic; there is just a greater risk. There are some people who realize that what they see at home is not always right and they take steps to avoid falling into the same traps they have seen. (Stevens) I have a friend whose parents are binge drinkers. He is a nondrinker who never ever tasted liquor. He told me that his family atmosphere was not so good because of his parent’s alcohol addiction. Quiet often lot of conflicts and problems occurred in the family between his mother and father which forced them to divorce each other. My friend has realized even from the childhood that it was liquor which acted as the villain in separating his father and mother and took a strong decision to avoid liquor from his personal life. So nobody can argue that alcoholic parent may have alcoholic children only. But the risk of transferring alcoholism to offspring is more in alcoholic parents. Habitual reasons for alcoholism It is not necessary that alcoholism is due to reasons from heredity and environment alone. Some people take drinks as part of their life habits more than anything else. We know that most of the smokers are addicted to it not mainly because of heredity or environment. Sometimes people can start smoking not because of the pleasure they are deriving from it, but as a habit. Same way alcoholism may also start like that. As per human psychology, habits are reinforced by the repetitive actions. Suppose we have started to take liquor as an appetizer before lunch for about 15 days regularly. It will be difficult for us to avoid alcohol on the 16 th day before lunch because our body already conditioned to have alcohol before the lunch. In other words our habits have reinforced the need for alcohol. People who are addicted to alcoholism may feel withdrawal symptom in the absence of alcohol in their blood. Neither the heredity nor the environment is the culprits in this case. “Not everyone who stops drinking experiences withdrawal symptoms, but most people who have been drinking for a long period of time, or drinking frequently, or drink heavily when they do drink, will experience some form of withdrawal symptoms if they stop drinking suddenly” (Buddy) Thus they will be forced to take alcohol in order to cater the needs of the habit they developed which conditioned the body. Conclusions Alcoholism is a major problem most of the countries are facing. Though nobody has proved anything good about alcoholism, most of the people depend it for getting temporary pleasure. The main reasons for alcohol addiction may be attributed to genetic, environmental and habitual factors. Researches have shown that a gene called DRD2 can cause alcoholism. Moreover lack of endorphin (a kind of morphine) also can stimulate alcoholism. Habitual reasons are another factor which contributes to liquor addiction. Alcoholism can create physical problems like heart diseases, cancer, liver and pancreas problems. It can also cause mental problems like, anxiety, schizophrenia, depression, psychosis etc. Moreover social problems like, drunk driving, divorce, domestic violence, loss of employment may also associated with alcoholism. Works Cited 1. Alcohol, Retrieved on June 5, 2009 from 2. Alcoholism, 2009, Retrieved on June 5, 2009 from 3. Goldman Mark S., Ph.D. Boyd Gayle M., Ph.D., Faden Vivian, Ph.D., 2002, College Drinking, What It Is, and What To Do about It: A Review of the State of the Science Retrieved on June 5, 2009 from 4. Bower Bruce, 1988, Intoxicating Habits: Some Alcoholism Researchers Say They Are Studying a Learned Behavior, Not a Disease Retrieved on June 5, 2009 from 5. Newhouse Eric, 1999, Science Closes On Genetic Secrets Behind Addiction Retrieved on June 5, 2009 from 6. Is Alcoholism Hereditary?, Retrieved on June 5, 2009 from 7. Stevens Jeff, 2009, Is Alcoholism Hereditary? Retrieved on June 5, 2009 from 8. Alcohol Abuse Is Hereditary, 2007, Retrieved on June 5, 2009 from 9. Buddy T, 2008, Symptoms of Alcohol Withdrawal, Retrieved on June 5, 2009 from http://alcoholism.about.com/cs/withdraw/a/aa030307a.htm Read More