Many people assume that addiction is not a disease but a weakness of character. This misconception contributes to the stigma of addiction and unfairly minimizes the challenge of overcoming chemical dependence.

Advances in neuroscience and imaging technology have rapidly evolved our understanding of addiction and demonstrated a great deal of support for what is often referred to as the brain disease model of addiction. This model considers genetic and environmental factors that cause physical changes to the brain and is the basis for many existing and emerging concepts, including genetic predisposition to addiction, behavioral addictions, psychopharmacological treatment interventions, and cross-addiction.

Volkow, Koob, and McLellan (2016) highlighted three primary symptoms of addiction: desensitization of the reward circuits of the brain; increased conditioned responses related to the substance an individual is dependent upon; and, declining function of brain regions that facilitate decision making and self-regulation

Brain physiology plays two major parts in addiction: First, certain hereditary traits can make an individual more vulnerable to developing a physical dependence after exposure to a rewarding stimulus; second, physical changes caused by repeated exposure to rewarding stimuli strengthen the dependence by deteriorating brain function critical to self-regulation and motivation to remain abstinent, even in the face of extreme consequences.

Different substances have different specific chemical effects on the brain; however, by using a broader definition of addiction, scientists have identified hereditary and conditional physical characteristics that are consistent across all chemical addictions and even include a number of compulsive or addictive behaviors as well.

A number of policies and interventions have already been developed as a result of better understanding of the physiological nature of addiction. Medication-assisted treatment (MAT) has evolved as a result of recent imaging and brain function research, allowing scientists and practitioners to prescribe non-addictive medications to significantly reduce patients' cravings for alcohol, tobacco, and opioids. Positron emission tomography (PET) scans have tied together impulsivity, motivation, and addiction in a way that is allowing scientists to collaborate on effective treatments for a multitude of disorders and to focus on solutions that can increase an individual's ability to improve overall self-regulation and motivation to remain in a treatment program.

Despite decades of public misinterpretation of substance dependence as a sign of moral weakness or a simple unwillingness to exert self-control, professionals can now point to common neurobiological patterns that underlie chemical and behavioral addictions. These findings are the foundation of understanding addiction as a treatable disease and may pave the way for more precise and effective treatment interventions in the future.

Family System Theory of Addiction

Family Systems Theory – conceived by psychiatrist Murray Bowen in the 1950’s – is about looking at the limiting beliefs and behavioral patterns that were handed down to you from your family of origin. It involves taking a close look at how your family operates, and how those dynamics impact your daily life.

Lest this sound grim or fatalistic, know that the goal of working with Family Systems is to help you identify your issues, then work to resolve and heal them. Ultimately, it’s about becoming your own person. You can love and honor your family while still charting your own course in life.

Learning about Family Systems also empowers one to see that their dysfunction does not start and end with them. Instead, they come to realize that present-day dysfunction is one result of hereditary, multi-generational limiting patterns. It is not about pointing fingers and assigning blame on one’s ancestors. Rather, it’s about realizing that just one part of the large, interconnected web that is your family. Understanding this can help to set one free from self-recrimination and regret.

The authors of the New Zealand-based study “Family functioning in families with alcohol and other drug addiction” observed: “… the majority of addicted participants had experienced painful and traumatic childhoods in their families of origin, which contributed to their subsequent addictive behavior and which they felt had affected their current familial relationships.”

The study goes on to list several types of traumatic events that can contribute to the development of addiction, including abuse, job loss, divorce, chronic illness, and having a parent struggle with substance abuse themselves. Child abuse in particular is highly correlated with addiction because when you have a family unit in which physical, sexual, mental, and emotional abuse occurs, you’ll also have family members trying to cope with the trauma.

As one “National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) report” notes, “As many as two-thirds of all people in treatment for drug abuse report that they were physically, sexually, or emotionally abused during childhood, research shows.” Addiction is one dysfunctional response to unhealed trauma. Substance abuse is a way of numbing out against the mental and emotional pain of what you experienced in your family system.

As writer, speaker, sexual abuse survivor, and recovering over-drinker Laura Parrott Perry noted in a 2017 interview, “The Story You’re Not Telling”, “If you’re unwilling to deal with that original wound, you will seek out voluntary pains left, right, and center.”

No matter what family system shaped one’s life in the past, they have the power to choose their present and future. Exploring and understanding family systems is not about going into victim mode. Rather, it is about taking a clear-eyed look at what relationships influenced one, and discovering how they can use that influence for good in their life today.

It is not always easy. In fact, it is probably going to be a challenge of the highest order. To put it in the wise words of Glennon Doyle, recovering alcoholic, drug user, and bulimic, “Family is the final frontier.” It is worth it, though. You can do the work of building healthy relationships within one’s own family and when one does, future generations will thank them.