Addiction: What causes it - Alternatives Counseling- Organic Medicine for mental health.

What causes addiction’s?
A). Genetics- current research does not tease apart the difference between learning theory from our parents versus genetics inherited from our parents. This would require identical twin studies separated from parents at birth. Many of these studies were done in the 80s in Switzerland Finland and the Dutch countries. They found less than a 15% correlation between identical twins inheriting alcohol addiction from their parents.

B). Neurological influence- dopamine plays a major role in ability to keep calm. Serotonin is our happy hormone and it takes the brain about six months to fill up its little cup with happy hormones. When we use drugs it’s like dumping the entire cup into the blood system at once. However, The drug addict never wait six more months for the second hi. That’s how long it would take a healthy brain to recover.

C). Family dynamics- parents teach what is acceptable and what is not. Their behavior is more important in their words. Parents also teach boundaries and self discipline. By modeling good habits the child learns good habits. Poverty and hunger have a major implication on whether the child will become an addict or not. Poverty may indicate the parenting plan for the future. And to a child if there is no plan it is easier to give up.. having a parent with a mental illness or a personality disorder is another cause. And again this type of parent would not be able to exemplify good habits.

D). Coping with PTSD, trauma, or loss.
Often we watch people around us cope with traumatic events by drinking or using drugs or pain medication. This teaches us how to seek alternatives and what is acceptable by the family. PTSD is fight or flight. In order to decrease fighter flight you must reduce the cortisol and adrenaline and many other hormones in the blood. Please watch my previous video for how to treat PTSD and trauma.

E). Television and video games often glamorize drugs and alcohol use. Entertainment is not a way to learn about the world. It is better to get out and experience it then to just watch it on a screen. When these people get into the real world they have no coping skills and often resort to quick easy fixes.
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