Genetics Depression Alcoholism

Genetics depression alcoholism go together. My partner is an example.

Genetics

I believe that the cause of alcoholism is both genetic (nature) and due to experience (nurture). My partner's family demonstrate some traits that indicate a possible predisposition to alcoholism.

Her mother is bird like and eats little. My partner is thin and weight obsessed (she would heavily deny this and argue about it - she is very defensive too). She is borderline anorexic and demonstrates that she does not particularly like food. Her weight can fall into the 7 stone bracket (44 kilogrammes) but is currently OK at about 8+ stones. She is 5 feet 6 inches tall.

She is also borderline bulimic which shows when she makes herself sick over and over again for hour after hour after she has been on a binge and is in the process of stopping.

She takes laxatives most of the time. Her sister is borderline anorexic too. Both are very defensive.

My partner tells me that her mother has had a drink problem in the past.

Nurture

I am convinced that my partner had a difficult early childhood. Firstly, her mother wanted a boy and could barely bother to name her (so I am told by my partner). Secondly, her parents argued a lot and I think she took this badly.

She developed low self esteem probably through over-exposure to criticism. The low self-esteem made life difficult and caused depression.

The booze made life easier for a short while but caused more depression (alcohol depresses the mood). She has been an alcoholic now for about 25 years.

Her sister, though, does not have low self esteem. She is unpleasant a lot of the time though and may have been a contributing factor in my partners low self esteem, which as far as I am concerned is at the root of most of her problems.

My partner takes lots of pills. At one time she had a laundry basket full of them. She'd go to the doctor and get an industrial sized prescription and get it all at discount prices. She'd return home a store them all in the laundry basket. She is very anxious, she buys too much food and the cupboards are full up. I can't find anything. The motivator that makes her store food is the same that makes her store pills. It's a kind of insurance policy and she has lots of those too...

Lots more to come...including pills and treatments