genetics of addiction <fwd>

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

I am torn as to whether to keep naming my former sponsor

and his rehab on lists when he is not here to defend himself

(tho Ive asked him). It doesnt seem fair - but by the same

token, he *does* run a rehab and hence the significance of

his views are not inconsiderable, especially here in the

UK, perhaps I *ought* to name him. He himself described

himself to me as " at the top of the tree " in the addiction

world. frankly, i was surprised no-one on addict-l had

heard of

him.

gives lengthy

speeches (at least an hour) to the gathered patients and

visitors to his rehab on Sunday evenings abt everything

except addiction for all except the last 2-5 minutes. Once

he showed us his holiday slides. After abt 90 mins of

slides, one lady was finally moved to ask " Excuse me sir,

what is the point of your talk? " . Perhaps the Disease

Modellers have to do this - the concept is so trite, so

" simple " it is impossible to discuss it for any length of

time with any sophistication without either running out of

material, getting horribly bored, or seeing its manifest

lack of truth.

Anyway, during the final few minutes when actually talking

abt addiction, he talked abt the genetic nature of the

disease and its tendency to run in families.

what he said was, that when he first put it to someone that

they probably had relatives who had " addictive disease "

they often at first could not think of one. then, on some

reflection, they remembered an Uncle or someone with some

kind of problem (not necessarily the same as the patient's).

claims that 10% of ppl have " addictive disease " .

Some ppl say 20%. I dont know what the birthrate is right

now, but the population seems pretty stable, so presumably

women are having on average abt 2 children.

almost everyone had 4 grandparents, and 2 parents. With an

average birthrate of 2 for each woman-generation, that

would on average ppl would have a brother or sister, and 2

uncles or aunts ( one from each parent). That adds up to 9

ppl, without even including cousins, great uncles and the

like. in other words, if " addictive disease " really does

strike 10% of ppl, there is a very good chance

*almost anyone* has a close relative with the disease, even

if it has *no familial pattern whatsoever*. when one adds

in that many ppl have more than one sibling, and more than

two uncles/aunts, and possibly several cousins as well, if

addiction really does strike 10% of the popultion, for

them it would be *very unusual* not to be able to think of

a relative with the problem. If it strikes 20%, even

more so. not only that, but when one considers that

addictive habits could be transmitted thru *modelling* of

older relatives, rather than thru a genetic link, 's

statement has no value whatsoever except to indicate how

little he has actually thought abt the problem, all the

while presenting as if his views wer scientific, medical

facts. The " What I think I see must be What I am getting "

fallacy is fallen for completely.

with regard to those with alcohol problems, the alcohol

status of

the relatives is less important than factors abt the client

(unless the client still lives with parents) - not least

how much drinking *they* are actually doing. If someone has

alcohol abusing parents, than I would suggest that they

might be cautioned that they might have learned

inappropriate norms of behaviour regarding alcohol - it's

*not* normal to pass out on the stairs so that a family

member has to put you to bed, for example. Imho any

increased risk of alcoholism is primarily the result of

this kind of alcoholic role-model, not genetic factors.

hence, controlled drinking may be perfectly feasible but

the client could benefit from perhaps a period of

abstinence and modelling the drinking behaviors of

non-problem drinkers to learn better habits.

best,

Pete

----------------------

Cool Briton

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--- End Forwarded Message ---

Pete

----------------------

Cool Briton

PERSONALITY-DISORDERS LIST:

http://rdz.acor.org/athenaeum/lists.phtml?personality-disorders

_____________________

" Every great scientist is part B.F. Skinner and part P.T. Barnum "

- Bart Simpson's science teacher

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