What to Do if Your Family Has a History of Addiction

If you grew up in a household with a father, mother or other family member who was an alcoholic or drug addict, you have reason to feel concerned over your own relationship with drugs and alcohol. Just as many personality traits have a tendency to run in the family, so does addiction. While it is not inevitable that the child of an addict will grow up to also suffer from some type of addiction, there is substantial evidence to demonstrate that individuals who were raised by addicts are significantly more likely to develop addiction. The experience of living with an addict can be enormously emotionally scarring. You may have witnessed your parent being drunk or high. Perhaps there were issues with domestic violence or abuse.

Maybe you even saw your parent arrested or were at some time taken from the home by child protective services. Experiences such as these would be enough to drive many people into using drugs or alcohol, but they are not the full picture. There is, in many cases, also a genetic component to addiction. For example, research has demonstrated that some people may be physiologically predisposed to becoming alcoholics due to the fact that they are less sensitive to alcohol. They have to drink more to get drunk, and as a result of this increased alcohol consumption they are more prone to becoming dependent on the drug. You may not only have had a role model who set an example of substance abuse, but you may have inherited a tendency to become addictive.

Avoid Substance Abuse Altogether

Fortunately, you do not have to let the same things happen to you as what happened to your family members. You can break the cycle, and you do not have to become addicted. In fact, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism reports that more than half of all children of alcoholics do not themselves become alcoholics. It is far from being inevitable that you will become an addict. You should, however, take certain precautions to keep yourself safe. According to statistics provided by the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, children of alcoholics are four times more likely to develop alcoholism. You do need to protect yourself against the risk of addiction. The first thing you can do in your effort to avoid addiction is to avoid drugs and alcohol. For some people, certainly, this may be easier said than done. Drinking is a major part of many social activities, whether it is going out with friends on the weekend, attending parties or other special occasions. You may feel compelled to drink simply in order to fit in with everyone else, especially when you feel anxious to avoid explaining that you are a teetotaler due to your family history of addiction. Avoiding uncomfortable social situations, however, is nowhere near as important as keeping yourself free from the ravages of addiction. Whether it is drinks out with friends or drugs at a party, you should do everything you can to avoid substance abuse. This may even mean that you have to make major changes in your life, such as by finding new friends who don’t drink or use drugs. Such changes will be entirely worthwhile.

Get Help When You Need It 

In the event that you have already started drinking or using drugs, you must stop without delay. Don’t overestimate your own ability to resist addiction. Quit as early as you can, and if you find yourself resistive to quitting or if you cannot drop the habit at will, recognize that you are developing an addiction. The sooner that you handle the problem, the easier it will be to get under control. By checking into an effective drug rehab treatment program, you can most likely put an end to your own addiction and perhaps even address the emotional trauma and other issues from your past that have left you at greater risk of developing your own addiction. Remember that quitting alcohol or drugs and staying sober is important not only for your own health and happiness. You additionally need to put an end to the problem in order to protect your children from the chance of becoming addicted in the future.