Addiction Runs in My Family — What Should I Do?

Unlike certain hereditary conditions that affect you regardless of your own choices, drug and alcohol addiction can be prevented. While it can be easy to slip and spiral into dependency, recognizing the risk and addressing other mental health issues can help you avoid losing your way. The solution can involve receiving treatment for anxiety, depression, and trauma, while addressing existing addictions to alcohol, nicotine and/or other substances. 

At Ketalink Ketamine Center in Levittown, New York, our team specialize in ketamine-based therapy to help people suffering from alcohol addiction and other types of substance abuse.

Addiction and inheritability 

Studies indicate that having a family history of addiction increases your risk of developing an addiction yourself. The exact science behind this isn’t entirely understood,but there is proof that both nature and nurture can affect your chances of becoming addicted.

While genes play a part, your childhood environment and upbringing are also relevant. When your parents fail to set good examples and develop unhealthy dependencies, you pick up on their behavior and learn from it. Even if you play it safe and promise never to end up that way, you might end up experiencing addiction in a different or similar manner. 

This is because no single experience with addiction is universal. People develop bad habits in different ways, for different reasons, and with different speeds. An addiction to alcohol will likely develop gradually over time, while harder drugs will begin to influence your behavior more quickly. 

Avoiding addiction 

If you’re concerned about relapsing into addiction or want to avoid it entirely, you’ll need to examine yourself. Family history is just one factor to consider. Others, such as grief, trauma, mental illness, and low level of family and community involvement can increase your risk of dependency.

You might already have substance abuse issues on a smaller scale, such as smoking, vaping, or heavy caffeine consumption. While these bad habits might seem like harmless offenses, if you find yourself struggling to live without your “drug of choice,” you already understand the difficulties of dependency. 

One of the primary reasons people turn to alcohol and drugs is to cope with their lives and deal with their thoughts. In many cases, they may be suffering from harsh living conditions or unmanaged mental illness. However, even the rich and outwardly happy can find themselves in the grip of addiction.

Most mental illnesses increase your risk of addiction in some way, shape, or form. This includes depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). If you’ve yet to receive a diagnosis, it might be the first step to receiving medication that will help you more effectively than drugs or alcohol. 

However, when traditional treatment and medication fail to deliver any relief, your options can begin feeling limited. This hopelessness is what drives many to dependency, and should be avoided at all costs. 

This is why controlled ketamine therapy has done so much for those struggling with chronic mental illness. Ketamine actually has a rich medical history and has become a promising treatment for many conditions, including treatment-resistant depression.

To learn more and find out if you’re a candidate for ketamine therapy, call Ketalink Ketamine Center at 516-703-4937 or book an appointment online today.