What if there were an alcoholic gene?
Jan 22, 09- (by Etta)
- 6 responses
- Sober Salon
Email This Post
What if there were an alcoholic gene? Anyone who had this gene was sure to be an alcoholic. What if you were informed your child had it? What would you think? What would you do?
Related articles:
Stumble it! 
Delicious Facebook
Respond now.
Previous post: « Can taxes on alcohol reduce drinking?
Next post: In a Different Place »
You know, with our family history, I’ve been acting-as-if with my kids as it is.
I believe there is a gene - and it runs through both sides of my family. As a result, I rarely if ever drink. I also constantly question my ways of dealing with life situations in the fear that I am acting as an addict would. If I ever do have children, I will assume they carry the gene as well and hope I can give them enough tools to avoid alcoholism. I don’t think the gene means you will be an addict no matter what, but I think simply not drinking isn’t enough, either.
An addict is always an addict, but I do believe you can be an addict in active recovery.
I go back and forth about this. My family has always been so worried that I have the gene that they were too judgmental of things that weren’t actually red flags.
Knowing our family history would heighten my parenting, of course. But I would simply be very pro-active in discussion, education and discipline.
Every single one of us has a gene that could bring about our demise, but if we work hard towards enlightenment, towards transformation, there is a strong chance we can prevail–with the correct discipline and sacrifice.
This is a great question.
I’ve thought a lot about it and my son is now 2 years younger than I was when I took my first drink.
Clearly, there isn’t one gene that causes it. More likely there are multiple genes that contribute to the risk of developing an addiction.
In spite of giving it a lot of thought, I haven’t come up with a whole lot.
* I’ll do what I can to postpone drinking and drug use as much as possible. Once experimentation begins, I’ll do what I can to not be an alarmist but will still minimize it in terms of frequency and quantity. Early use is associated with an increased risk of problems.
* I’ll be open and honest about my recovery–trying to normalize recovery and model a path if either of my kids develop problems.
* I’ll do what I can to foster the development of recovery capital (Recovery capital is the quantity and quality of internal and external
resources that one can bring to bear on the initiation and maintenance of recovery) before they develop a problem. Hopefully, if they develop a problem, this will minimize the duration of it and the losses associated with it.
Here’s a great article calling for research in this area: http://www.facesandvoicesofrecovery.org/pdf/White/intergenerational_resilience_recovery.pdf
[...] Jason Schwartz: This is a great question. I’ve thought a lot about it and my son is now 2 years younger than I was when I took my first drink. Clearly, there is… [...]
I loathe secrets in general, feel kids pick up on a vibe and make it so. So in this case for sure I’d tell the kid. But I tell any and all kids about just about everything, assume they’re just little adults in need of reassurance and skills.