Is Addiction Genetic?

Wondering if addiction genetic is normal in this day and age. Genes are solely responsible for many outcomes like if you have cystic fibrosis, you have a gene mutation that gives you the disease. Addiction is a bit more complicated, and it involves genes that control the reward system and a person’s ability to understand and cope with the things in their environment.

While addiction is genetic, it also relies on the environment that you are in, which spurs a chicken and egg conversation. This makes it clear as to why some people become addicted and others do not after experiencing similar lives. Either way, if you’re addicted, you may need to consider attending a family therapy program. Here’s why.

Is Addiction Genetic?

This is still not fully understood. Many different experiments need to take place and in order to define one little aspect of this question. To start, there are hundreds of genes involved in the signaling pathway thought to control addiction. Also, to make things even more complicated the amount that each gene expresses can make changes, and the amount that each gene expresses in relation to others can cause one person to be more susceptible to addiction than another.

This is why there is no one way to help all people out of addictive patterns of living, or with most other things in life. The way to think about this is that your neurons are single cells in your brain that talk to each other. Likewise, they are all packed full to the brim with proteins created from your DNA. So you have this protein soup filled cell that talks to other cells.

1. Protein filled soup cell talks to other cells
2. Protein filled soup cell gets signals from other cells
3. The soup cell gets chemical signals from outside
4. Proteins created
5. Protein soup ingredients change
6. Protein filled soup cell talks to cells with its new soup

Also, you have over 37 trillion cells in your body, all talking to each other and making you. The genetics of addiction involves several factors, which means that some of it is redundant. Redundant systems protect us, and that is why we are all still alive today. Is addiction genetic? Partially, yes.

What Does it Mean to be Genetically Predisposed to Addiction?

In short, if you are genetically predisposed to addiction, you should see one of two patterns in your family tree. You should see addiction issues or mental disorders. It has not been acceptable to talk about these things for a very long time. It might not be obvious to you that your grandparents, cousins, or further down the line had an addiction or mental health issues unless something terrible happened.

Also, if this is the case, you may be able to get some family members to join you in a family therapy program. Here, you can sort out if others have addiction problems or if they know of deceased family members that have. Being predisposed means that you should probably do your best to stay away from addictive substances at all costs.

What to do if There is Substance Abuse in my Family

If you have a family history of substance abuse, your best bet is to stay away from substances. For example, here are some things that you can do instead of using:

• Tell friends you are sick
• Go to the movies instead
• Read a book
• Make friends with people into health
• Make friends with people from the sober community
• Talk to people about substance abuse at home

In conclusion, you may not be able to change your genetics, but you can change the environmental factors that affect your behavior choices. Being predisposed does not mean there isn’t hope, make good choices, and love yourself. Go to individual therapy and get help, there are many ways around, and through addiction, you just have to decide to try. Give us a call at 866.605.0532 today and learn is addiction genetic.