Alcoholism - and any addiction for that matter is extremely complex. Getting to the root of what causes alcoholism and addiction certainly isn't straightforward.
Genetic factors certainly play a role - but I believe it's the impact of the environment that is most telling because ultimately we're shaped by our environment - parents and family especially, friends, experiences etc.
Now when looking at the role psychology plays in alcoholism and drug addiction - a large part of our psychological makeup is formed in our early childhood years. Primarily through our parents and family environment.
If we are brought up in a home environment that is mostly supportive, loving, stable and secure - we'll tend to develop a healthy sense of who are, good self-esteem and be fairly well-adjusted.
But if our early years are fraught with turmoil, instability or trauma - whether it be through having an alcoholic parent for example, losing a loved one, parents divorcing, being abused, or anything else that may affect us emotionally - we tend to develop various coping mechanisms to deal with that, which can then manifest in a number of ways (not always immediately though).
This could be anything from depression, to various forms of eating disorders, anger, withdrawing into your shell, excessive worrying, and then naturally alcoholism and drug addiction too.
It's pretty likely that if you speak to an addict or alcoholic - that there will be something that happened when they were young that effected them pretty bad. For me having an alcoholic parent was tough to deal with - also because how that impacted on our family.
It doesn't, of course, always happen like that because naturally you will find that there are lots of addicts who had stable and loving upbringings. But when trying to understand the psychology of alcoholism and addiction, hopefully what I've shared with you will help.
Genetic factors certainly play a role - but I believe it's the impact of the environment that is most telling because ultimately we're shaped by our environment - parents and family especially, friends, experiences etc.
Now when looking at the role psychology plays in alcoholism and drug addiction - a large part of our psychological makeup is formed in our early childhood years. Primarily through our parents and family environment.
If we are brought up in a home environment that is mostly supportive, loving, stable and secure - we'll tend to develop a healthy sense of who are, good self-esteem and be fairly well-adjusted.
But if our early years are fraught with turmoil, instability or trauma - whether it be through having an alcoholic parent for example, losing a loved one, parents divorcing, being abused, or anything else that may affect us emotionally - we tend to develop various coping mechanisms to deal with that, which can then manifest in a number of ways (not always immediately though).
This could be anything from depression, to various forms of eating disorders, anger, withdrawing into your shell, excessive worrying, and then naturally alcoholism and drug addiction too.
It's pretty likely that if you speak to an addict or alcoholic - that there will be something that happened when they were young that effected them pretty bad. For me having an alcoholic parent was tough to deal with - also because how that impacted on our family.
It doesn't, of course, always happen like that because naturally you will find that there are lots of addicts who had stable and loving upbringings. But when trying to understand the psychology of alcoholism and addiction, hopefully what I've shared with you will help.
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