The fine line between alcoholism and habit

Today you left work and like every Friday afternoon you met to have a few drinks with your friends. It is your tradition and almost your only way to maintain contact. But this afternoon will be different, one of your friends drops news that surprises you all, He has been diagnosed with alcoholism and this habit of meeting up every Friday to drink is part of the problem.

This bomb makes you and your friends stay in shockwhich you may think is a joke, but it is not, it is a real problem and unfortunately very common, but also very difficult to understand. It’s hard to understand because you drink too, You also go to those meetings with your friends and participate in that habit, but you do not have alcoholism, you are not an alcoholic, or so you think.

Then the doubts and questions begin, What makes you an alcoholic? Why are some people more susceptible to alcoholism than others? Can a habit lead you to alcoholism? If you keep reading you will find the answers.

Alcoholism or habit?

Diagnostic classifications, such as the DSM-5, define alcohol use disorder outside the necessary criteria for diagnosis as “a grouping of behavioral and physical symptoms, including withdrawal, tolerance, and intense desire to consume.” ”.

Within the criteria, however, they emphasize the frequency and recurrent consumption of alcohol as an essential part of its diagnosis, but could this recurrent consumption be considered a habit?

According to the Royal Spanish Academy of Language, if we take into account the sixth definition of the word habit, it may have something to do with it because it defines it as a “situation of dependence on certain drugs.”

But is the habit itself the one that generates an addiction? The answer is a resounding no. An addiction, in this case alcoholism, is a disease that develops thanks to different bio-psycho-social factors being set in motion, going from a simple habit to abusive consumption that modifies the brain structure and behavior of the subject.

That is to say, it is a combination of biological, social and behavioral factors that make a habit, like drinking with your friends, become something more, an addiction. And this is the most dangerous thing, because there are some factors that we control and others that we do not, making it difficult to predict who, faced with the same situation, will develop addiction and who will not.

Why will some develop alcoholism and others not?

So, why within that group of friends that we talked about at the beginning, one will develop alcoholism and the rest will not? The factors that influence the development of alcohol addiction can be summarized as:

Biological factors

The biological factors that help the development of alcoholism range from genetic inheritance to the alteration of different neurotransmitters and brain structures. sponsored by the habit of consumption, which in subjects predisposed to addiction is a more rapid modification.

Alcohol use disorder is most easily found in family members: 40-60% of the variance in the risk of alcoholism is explained by genetic influences. Additionally, the risk is three to four times higher for children of people with alcohol use disorder.

Regarding brain structures and neurotransmitters, it has been discovered that Dopamine is involved in the beginning of addictions since it is related to pleasure, as is the so-called brain reward system.composed mainly of the Ventral Tegmental Area, among other structures.

Psychological factors

The perception that the subject himself has of alcohol consumption and the use he makes of it can be very important. If in the group of friends we talked about at the beginning, the one who developed alcoholism used to boast of being the one who could last the longest, he probably drank much more than his peers.

In addition to putting their own health at risk, generating a harmful habit, which was no longer controllable and became an addiction. Therefore, behavioral patterns during adolescence, which is where this type of behavior begins, to control consumption and devaluate the need for social validation are very important.

Social factors

The perception of drinking behavior and the availability of alcohol in the society in which the subject is immersed is also very important. It has been shown that in societies where alcohol consumption is more permissive, there are higher levels of alcoholism.

For all this, it must be noted that there is a thin line between habit and alcoholism. Along these lines, there are factors that fall under the control of the subject himself, such as his behavior, and others that are not, such as his biological risk, so one must be very careful and always consume alcohol in moderation, and even, avoid its consumption.