Alcoholism

[Eilonnwy]

"So I think's hereditary not with a specific genetic agent."

If I may repeat Eilo, this is a silly thing to say. I point out again that I think you're misunderstanding biology. Something that is hereditary absolutely HAS to be genetic. There is no other thing for traits that are passed on before birth can be. If a predisposition for addictive behavior is passed onto me by my father, and it is not the same as him teaching me english, where does it exist if not in genetic code?

Explain to me, if you could, how Alcoholism can be hereditary, without being genetic. What is being passed on if not genetics? And if it is real and genetic (or at the very least hereditary), how come it's not a disease but still a big scam?

I said:

It is a well known fact that psychologically we go to what we know. How often do we see a child who was abused become an abuser himself? Alcoholic homes are tumultuous and will always leave a scar on the children. It's not surprising that some will then turn to drinking themselves. Furthermore, there are such things as addictive personalities, and if they are inherited, then that's another reason a child can become an alcoholic. But it's still not genetic, there's no specific genetic trait within biology that has bee found to transfer alcoholism from parent to child.

Not the first explanation refers to psychology. How a child can "inherit" his father's abusive nature. Still not genetic. Furthermore, I said addictive personalities can be genetic. An addictive personality =/= alcoholism. You can be addicted to a lot of things.

It's really quite simple. Hereditary doesn't JUST refer to genetics. Genetics is a subset. That's the difference.

To make it simple, there can be hereditary factors that contribute to alcoholism, but I don't think there's an "alcoholism" gene in say, the same way there is a gene for Huntington's disease.