Origins of alcoholism?

[Peter1469]

Drug addiction has biological components, but is ultimately psychological in origin. It's clearly a form of self-medication.

No, not really.

[Hoosier8]

I am writing a paper proposing a research study and I came across this when I was randomly looking for information on the evolution (biological) of the human body to metabolize ethanol.

This isn't very scientific, although it cites studies, but it is actually kind of neat to think about. Makes sense.



Origins of Human Alcohol Consumption Revealed

It appears Europeans have a greater tolerance compared to say Native Americans due to a longer generational exposure.

I recently gave up all alcohol which will be hard because I am somewhat involved with a distillery but old men and alcohol ain’t a good mix and I have trouble with moderation.

[Mister D]

Drug addiction has biological components, but is ultimately psychological in origin. It's clearly a form of self-medication.

Obviously. Sadly, this model has been pushed on addicts and has become a crutch for them. I will admit it served a purpose of sorts in alleviating the social stigma of addiction but it's no longer useful let alone scientific.

[Chris]

I've always heard this: The History Of Beer And Why Civilization As We Know It May Have Started Because Of It

Around 6,000 years ago, ancient Sumerians living in the Fertile Crescent recorded the first known instance of purposeful beer brewing. The grain-based beverage has since become integral to countless cultures around the world, inspiring men to risk their lives for distribution, inciting riots in the streets of New York City and bringing international renown to cultural events like Oktoberfest.

But there’s a theory that beer holds an even more important place in history, that civilization itself owes its very existence to the beverage — the “beer before bread” theory.

“There is a perfectly respectable academic theory that civilization began with beer,” writes Michael Jackson, the author of World Guide to Beer.

...But which came first — and which was more important — is as fiercely debated in certain circles as any origin story. Yet, since the 1950s, scholars have been unearthing evidence that beer “civilized” humans, not bread....

[Admiral Ackbar]

I need a beer after reading this!

[Common]

A friend I grew up with was an alcoholic, he was a very skilled cabinet and custom carpentry tradesman very much in demand. He never drank when he was working but lord how he would sweat by the end of the day and you could see tremors in his hands. His father was a rotten evil vicious violent drunken pos who EVERYONE hated including his family. He used to beat his wife unmercifully, she finally left him.

My friend RIP was addicted to alcohol I have no doubts he was physically and psychologically addicted.

[Captdon]

I have heard that beer was brewed because the water was bad. The people din't why the water was bad but they knew it was. A light alcohol beer cleaned the water.

[midcan5]

Getting high doesn't require alcohol, lots of other plants and synthetics out there. An interesting take on alcohol consumption is the social aspect, and that humans act like they are drinking alcohol even when none is contained in the drink. Will Storr writes about this in 'The Unpersuadables: Adventures with the Enemies of Science.' People act as they imagine they are supposed to act. I take that with a grain of salt, but having been to many kocktail parties I'm not sure. But then again the placebo effect is well studied.


"Like a bird on the wire,
Like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free" Leonard Cohen



Kocktail misspelled

[Adelaide]

Drug addiction has biological components, but is ultimately psychological in origin. It's clearly a form of self-medication.

It has been well established that the "reward system" in the nervous system is responsible for cravings and reactions to cues, as well as conforming to encourage addiction. Specifically, the "reward system" is the mesolimbic dopamine pathway, mesocortical pathway, nucleus accumbens, ventral tegmental area, and endogenous opioid system with involvement of hyperactive glutamates, γ-Aminobutyric Acid (GABA) receptors/signaling, neurokinin 1 (NK1), opioid receptors, and polymorphisms with the mu-opioid receptor gene. Neuroplasticity rewires the alcoholic brain to cause something known as "reward-based learning" that basically is a biological nudge to continue with addiction, making it cyclical (alcohol impacts the brain, the brain takes note and changes, brain encourages drinking, drinking impacts the brain, so on).

The biological component is huge; evolution, genetics, neuroanatomy, etc.. This biological aspect is more important than the psychological one, in my opinion; you may start drinking because of something in your life but you stay drinking mostly because of your brain. Psychological therapies and group therapies on their own are unsuccessful in most individuals, who will relapse possibly multiple times or never recover, and pharmaceutical and neuromodulatory techniques should be used more frequently. Currently, two-thirds of addiction clinics that deal with alcoholism refuse to use proven drug or neurostimulation therapies (FDA-approved) and entirely focus on alcohol dependence as an issue of willpower. Why not also bring back prohibition? Probably be about as effective. Therapy models like AA are only going to work on a limited number of alcoholics, and certain types of alcoholics, although still beneficial to most (just not effective as sole treatment modality). Most are going to require the assistance of medications like naltrexone, acamprosate, disulfiram, and so on, as well as TMS, tDCS, and neurofeedback.

[Orion Rules]

I've always heard this: The History Of Beer And Why Civilization As We Know It May Have Started Because Of It

Just more tales of how it all started. When one may not know what is in the water when it is brewed. If not clear, where is the civilized? The whole idea got changed. So, then is served the fresh-baked bread. They eat and drink up until it gets old. They're hungry, so decide they may need some butter for those new servings of bread. But then no one knows where their wallet is after it is misplaced. Then the party's over for it's needed.

Besides, there is proof of civilizations older than the most unpredictable of moods sung. It's so much better to view the skies at night, to view the clouds and starred dimensions. That just might be the same direction of where civilizations of a much higher order, that far surpass anything found on Earth at the present moment, that were put into disrepair because Earth is said to have been occupied. Ten colonies later, they all died.