Addiction is a complicated biopsychosocial phenomenon, but one that may not affect everyone equally. Some people may be at higher risk for developing a drug addiction because of their family history.
Nature or Nurture
No research to date has definitively identified a specific “addiction gene” that determines a person’s susceptibility to addictive behaviors. However, statistically, many people who develop drug addictions had a parent or parents who were addicts. The link may be a genetic predisposition to addiction in addition to having drug use as a coping mechanism modeled during childhood.
How to Address Family History Risk
Your family history does not determine your future. Growing up in a home where drug abuse was modeled or inheriting a genetic predisposition to addiction does not guarantee that you will become an addict. The most effective way to ensure that your family history does not determine your future is through therapy.
The master-level clinicians at Duke City Recovery Toolbox provide an array of counseling services to help you understand your family history and then develop strategies to keep you free of substance abuse.
Our mental health and counseling services are available to treatment participants as well as those with a family history of substance abuse who wish to prevent it. We also offer educational resources for participants and family members to help everyone understand the dynamic of substance abuse. Psychoeducation is often important in helping family members become healthy supports during a participant’s recovery process.
Redefine Your Future
Duke City Recovery Toolbox in Albuquerque, New Mexico provides the medical, mental health and spiritual care you need to recover from drug abuse…and many of the same treatments for addiction can be effective in preventing it.
Make the choice to redefine your future regardless of your family’s history. Contact Duke City Recovery Toolbox to schedule an intake appointment or inquire about our educational and prevention resources.
