What causes alcohol addiction?
Alcohol use produces alteration of some substance that form one person's brain structure, like gamma-aminobutric acids (which produces inhibition), glutamate (which produces nervous system excitability) or dopamine which gives the pleasant sensation when drinking. Time, after time, the equilibrium in generally broken, so that the organism gets to a point in which it demands alcohol to deal with some physical states.
This way, dependence appears, but it may also be produced by other elements:
- Genetic inheritance related elements that give a person vulnerability to different kinds of addiction
- States of mind, including excitement, stress, anxiety or pain generated by emotions, which apparently need to be calmed by alcohol. Some stress hormones are even accused to contribute to alcoholism.
- Thinking badly about himself / herself, anxiety, depressive states of mind increase the risks for a person to become addicted to alcohol. The groups of friends or family members also encourage drinking abuse, although they consume moderate quantities
- Media encouraged lately alcohol consume and people may be influenced by this attitude