Studies indicate that while a substantial percentage of the population drinks alcohol, only an average of 5% struggle with alcohol addiction. Research has found that genetics play the biggest role in your likelihood of developing an addiction, but anyone is capable of becoming addicted.
With alcohol, it’s even easier to become addicted if you are experiencing negative mental health, have a genetic predisposition, or have an environment where everyone around you is drinking. The reason it’s easier to become addicted to alcohol than other substances is because alcohol is completely legal for those over the age of 21.
Unlike other substances, you can get alcohol just about anywhere you go, and there is no limit on how much you can consume. Moreover, alcohol is socially acceptable and often associated with celebrations, relaxation, and other positive occasions.
How Easy Is It to Get Addicted to Alcohol?
So, how easy is it to get addicted to alcohol? That depends entirely on several factors:
- Your genetics
- Your mental health
- Your drinking patterns
- Your environment
When you consider genetics, sixty percent of your risk of being addicted to alcohol is related to your genetics, and fifty-four percent to your ability to quit drinking alcohol.
Research has found that lower and higher levels of ALDH1 and ALDH2, GABRA2, and CHRM2L are all genetic markers for your risk of easily developing alcohol.
Your mental health is another aspect. The way in which your body responds to things like stress at a genetic level can play a role in how easily it is for you to become addicted to alcohol, particularly your MAOA and SLC6A4 genes.
Dopamine receptors like D2 have a baseline measurement, and those who fall below the baseline are more likely to become addicted to any substance, including alcohol.
Every person has the potential to become addicted to alcohol. For those who do, it’s generally not an immediate and substantial change but rather something that happens in stages.
For example:
Tom is facing increasing pressure at work and at home, so he starts drinking to relax at the end of the evening.
But then Tom starts drinking with some of his colleagues immediately after work so that he can relax before he gets home and not “bring work home,” as his wife calls it. At this point, Tom has developed a tolerance, which means instead of just one beer to calm down at the end of a day, he needs to.
As Tom continues, his increased tolerance means he’s drinking three or four, eventually six or seven beers, to get the same effect. Now, however, Tom struggles with things like blackouts, difficulty at work and at home, and withdrawal from his friends and family. He drinks more to relieve his anxiety and the stress from work but soon enough realizes he is physically dependent and deals with significant withdrawal symptoms whenever he isn’t drinking.
Each time Tom tries to stop drinking or cut back, he can’t. He gets overwhelmed by withdrawal symptoms. He doesn’t even find any pleasure in drinking anymore, and it doesn’t help him like it used to. Even though it is causing him problems at work and at home, Tom just can’t seem to stop.
Am I Addicted to Alcohol?
Maybe you are experiencing some of what Tom is experiencing.
If you are asking questions like “How easy is it to get addicted to alcohol?” or “Am I addicted to alcohol?” you can ask yourself these questions:
- Do you typically end up drinking more than you intended?
- Have you ever tried to stop drinking or reduce how much you were drinking but found that you couldn’t do it?
- Do you spend most of your time drinking or thinking about drinking?
- Do you regularly experience urges or cravings outside of your control?
- Have you missed professional or personal obligations because of alcohol?
- Has alcohol negatively infected your personal relationships?
- Have you given up activities you once enjoyed or social situations you once attended for alcohol?
- Have you experienced withdrawal symptoms when you don’t drink?
- Do you experience health problems because of your drinking, like anxiety or depression?
- Have you ever ended up in a dangerous situation because of drinking?
- Do you end up drinking more than you expect in order to get the same results?Â
If you answered positively to at least four of these questions, it could indicate an alcohol use disorder. Thankfully, you can get help if you have become easily addicted to alcohol.
Alcohol Treatment with East Coast Recovery
If you answered positively to four of those questions or you really identify with some of the things that Tom went through, you are not on your own.
At East Coast Recovery, we are here to offer supervised detox and the right level of care for the remainder of your treatment. We work hard to help you uncover the root cause of alcohol consumption and create healthy coping mechanisms to handle mental health issues, difficult emotions, or stress without turning to alcohol to relax.
Contact our team today to get help with alcoholism.
