Posted on 06/09/2002 3:05:49 PM PDT by FairWitness
Serotonin supplement anyone? I am not advocating this supplement, and in fact didn't know it existed until I finished typing the article and thought of doing a Google search.
Monkey Cocaine Study Sheds Light on Drug Addiction
Low Rank Monkeys More Prone To Cocaine Addiction
Quest for 'alcohol gene' sets monkeys on binge
Researcher finds link between alcohol intake and wealth
Maybe I'm just slow today, but that one went over my head.
Obviously, this study was begun to answer the question: "What do we do with a drunken sailor?"
But then again, maybe it was started by a drunken sailor.
""What do we do with a drunken sailor?""
LOL
There may be a biological 'cause'. An alcohol buzz may feel better to me than to my neighbor.
Also, an environmental cause: the feeling of liberation must be stronger for some of us. (Social inhibitions might be stronger in Iowa than California.)
I have conquered my 'alcoholism', now that I'm 40. This is no thread to get mystic, but I am a Christian now and I think prayer has saved me. Three years ago I got on the wagon and went back to school. I never believed I could stick to it and have discipline. Daily Christian prayer certainly helped.
That Ted Kennedy shouldn't have a driver's license.
Well done. May your prayers continue to be answered. Your post is relevant to the following part of the article:
Psychologist Stanton Peele suggests that we may have carried that model too far. < snip > Peele argues that no one has conclusively shown that there is a biological basis to alcoholism or any other addiction. Instead, Peele believes that personal and social expectations torque biological tendencies to such a degree that any study seeking to identify genetic underpinnings is suspect.
Look at what people do, he suggests. Not everyone who is anxious or impulsive is a problem drinker, and many people who are hard-core alcoholics stop drinking without treatment.
There is data to back up that view. In 1992 the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism interviewed 4,542 adults who at some time in their lives had been alcohol dependent according to diagnostic criteria used by the American Psychiatric Association. At the time of the study, 28 percent were still heavy drinkers, but 22 percent had given up alcohol and 50% drank I moderation. Therefore, roughly three-quarters of these people would no longer be considered alcoholics. Interestingly, those who were treated for alcohol abuse didn’t fare any better on average than those who had no treatment.
”Natural remission is overwhelming in its importance,” Peele says. “And yet it is systematically ignored by researchers.” If alcoholism is a disease, how can so many people cure themselves?
Good question. Maybe it would be harder to demonize? I wonder if anyone has done any genetics studies on heritability of smoking. Anybody know? The one thing I do know that might be relevant is that something like 10-15 percent of people who smoke (so-called "chippers") can quit with no meaningful side effects or heroic efforts. This suggests some kind of biochemical, and therefore probably genetic, involvement in nicotine addiction.
My doctor recently took me off Serzone because of bulletins about liver damage. My serotonin levels have been affected by having children and growing older...The worst problem for me was lack of restorative sleep, which Serzone helped. Melatonin just gave me nightmares, but 5-HTP has helped a LOT and it is not an expensive prescription drug. I'm a firm believer in essential amino acids and their influence on moods and behavior.
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