If you struggle with addiction, it is natural to wonder where it came from. You might wonder if you learned the behavior or inherited genes that made you more likely to have issues with addiction in your life. While addiction is complex, the simple answer is yes. Your genetics do play a role, and you can inherit addiction. However, this does not mean you cannot heal. With treatment and effort, you can successfully recover regardless of your family history.
What Does It Mean to Inherit Addiction?
Who you are and what you are at risk for is a combination of your genetics and your environment. In terms of addiction, you can “inherit” it from both, which means that you are influenced by these aspects of your life.
Your genes are a combination of your mother’s and father’s genes. Therefore, you can be born with an increased risk of many diseases that can be carried down to you by your parents. Addiction is one of these. Research shows that about half of your risk of becoming addicted to a substance is carried in your genes and can be part of inheriting addiction.
Both your genes and your environment play a role in what you inherit. Therefore, your environment can make you more likely to use substances and increase your risk of becoming addicted to them. Environmental risk factors such as a history of trauma, growing up with substance use, and stress can all play a role in if you inherit addiction.
Taking Steps to Heal From Addiction
If you have or are struggling with addiction, you may not know why this matters. However, understanding what has contributed to your addiction challenges is important. The value of understanding the path of inheritance is that you get to the root of the problem. One example is trauma. If your history of trauma has influenced your substance use, healing from this trauma is an important part of recovery. Additionally, if you inherited genetics that is influencing your risk of addiction, you may need to take extra precautions to stay sober.
Your risk of addiction may come from genetic factors and your environment, both now and in the past. While addiction is complex, it is possible to “inherit” addiction from genetics and from your past history. Treatment at The Guest House helps clients to get to the root of their addiction and heal using a variety of traditional and non-traditional therapies. By improving your understanding of how your genetics and past history impacted your addiction risk, you are more likely to be successful in long-term recovery. To learn more about how The Guest House can help you, call (855) 483-7800.