Alcoholism is also called alcoholism or alcohol addiction and it involves losing control over the amount of alcohol you drink. Taking into account the psychological aspect, it leads to an increase in well-being, while as a physical dependence it manifests itself in loss of control over drinking, increased tolerance, memory loss due to intoxication (palimpsesty) and alcohol withdrawal syndrome after withdrawal. Can alcoholism be inherited?
Phases of alcohol addiction
There are four basic stages in alcoholism:
- The pre-alcohol phase (initial) – even for several years does not have to be perceived as disturbing by the alcoholic or his environment, because it resembles the occasional reaching for alcohol.
- Warning phase – when the first palimpsest appears, that is, the memory loss resulting from intoxication, we can talk about the beginning of the second phase.
- Critical phase – when an alcoholic loses control of drinking, the critical phase begins. Even though he promised he would not reach for his glass, he could not keep his word, because his whole life begins to revolve around alcohol.
- Chronic (chronic) phase – it is characterized by drinking without any inhibitions or remorse.
Is alcoholism hereditary?
Alcoholic disease has been more common in some families for a long time. Scientific research has clearly shown that in addition to the impact of the environment, genetic predisposition is also very important in this case. Many genes are known to directly or indirectly increase or decrease the risk of developing alcohol dependence. For example, some people of Asian descent carry a specific variant of the gene responsible for metabolizing alcohol. These people after alcohol have physical symptoms of intolerance in the form of an unpleasant feeling of redness of the face, nausea or an accelerated heartbeat, which makes them less likely to abuse it.
Alcoholism – conditions
Alcoholism is not a congenital disease, but some genetic predisposition may facilitate its development. Many other social factors (including e.g. family model in which we grow up, friends environment, in which we live) or psychological (mental disorders, way of dealing with problems, etc.) have an impact on the development of alcoholism.
So whether drinking alcohol turns into an addiction is not clearly influenced by genes. Even if this is a frequent phenomenon in our family, you do not have to panic right away. Now that you know what the consequences of alcoholism are, you only need to control the amount and frequency of alcohol consumption.
