What Is Generational Addiction and How Do I Stop It?
Families have traditions that they pass down from generation to generation. Some families bake cookies at the holidays, sharing stories and memories. Other families may share a love for playing musical instruments. With each new generation, the recipes are taught, and learning how to read music is a shared experience. During these times, tips, techniques, and new ways to do things create bonds.
Often, the phrase, “It’s in the blood,” is used to explain a love for or a skill in something a family shares. But, what happens if the tradition that a family shares is a substance addiction?
What Is Addiction?
Substance use disorder (SUD) or alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a brain disease that is caused by genetics, life experiences like trauma, and the environment.
Despite the harmful impacts drugs or alcohol have on an individual’s physical and mental well-being, the urge to drink or use a substance is so powerful that they can’t stop themselves.
Patterns of Substance Use Disorder
The progression of harmful behaviors can identify the development of SUD. These behavior patterns include:
- Experimental Use: At this stage, you may try a substance once or twice because you’re curious.
- Socio-Recreational Use: Recreational substance use occurs when you’re with friends, at a party, or at an event.
- Circumstantial Use: When an individual uses a substance or alcohol to help cope with stressors, mask emotions, or binge over a short period, it’s considered circumstantial use.
- Substance Addiction: This stage is defined by the inability to stop drinking alcohol or using a substance despite the adverse effects it has on an individual’s life and health.
At Renaissance Ranch, the underlying causes of the patterns of SUD are identified and discussed while you are in individual and group therapy. With the support of your therapist and group members, you will discover your strength and healthy ways to prevent relapse.
Signs of Substance Use Disorder
The signs of addiction are different in everyone based on their genetics, environment, and mental health. Yet, there are some common signs of SUD or AUD, and they are:
- Inability to Stop: You might not be able to stop using a substance despite knowing the harm that it is doing to your relationships, mental, and physical health.
- Increased Tolerance: Your brain adapts to the effects of a substance and soon needs more of it to recreate the feelings it achieved with lesser amounts or doses.
- Loss of Control: The longer you use a substance, the more you may feel helpless.
- Physical Health Issues: Long-term abuse can hurt organs like your heart, lungs, and liver.
- Mental Health Issues: Substances and alcohol abuse can worsen the symptoms of a mental health condition.
- Relationship Issues: Relationships are damaged because of emotional and financial conflicts and stressors.
The Causes of Substance Use Disorder
Researchers have identified key factors that can play a role in addiction. These factors are:
- Mental Health: Approximately half of individuals diagnosed with a mental health disorder (depression, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder) are also diagnosed with SUD (and vice versa).
- Environmental: Traumatic childhood experiences, as well as financial and life stressors, are common causes of SUD. Additionally, access to substances through a family member, peers, or a prescription like an opioid increases the risk of SUD.
- Genetics: Research shows that genetics is approximately 40% to 60% responsible for an increased risk of developing SUD. Researchers continue to investigate the link between genes and substance addiction.
What Is Generational Addiction?
Generational addiction is a cycle or pattern of addictive behaviors like substance use that is passed down through family lines (genes). For example, the following factor can increase the likelihood of generational addiction:
- Growing up in a household or environment where substance or alcohol addiction was present can establish and normalize SUD. Children can copy the behavior of their parent(s) or caregivers and use a substance as a coping mechanism.
- Parenting behaviors and dynamics like neglect and abuse can impact children’s behaviors and increase the risk of developing an addiction.
- Generational trauma can play a significant role in generational addiction. Research shows that children can inherit anxiety or emotional distress from previous generations, which can increase the risk of addictive behaviors.
How Do I Stop Generational Addiction?
Breaking the cycle of generational addiction is possible through:
- Prevention: When you learn about the risks of generational addiction, you can take steps to avoid the risk factors.
- Early Intervention: Like early treatment of SUD, early intervention can prevent the patterns and symptoms of generational addiction from worsening.
- Therapy: With the help of a therapist, you can address your trauma, learn healthy coping skills, and get help through individual, group, and family therapy.
Breaking the Cycle of Generational Addiction at Renaissance Ranch
Generational addiction is treatable, and the therapists at Renaissance Ranch can help. We use faith-based and evidence-based treatments that focus on your individual needs. Through group, individual, and family-oriented systems of care, we provide trauma-informed therapy that can guide you on your healing journey and break the cycle of generational addiction.
Generational addiction is often rooted in genetics, trauma, environmental factors, and parenting dynamics. When children grow up in homes with addiction, they can normalize the substance or alcohol use and later use substances as ways to cope with situations or feelings. Their family history of trauma may also be passed on in their genes, creating a higher risk of developing a substance use disorder. Treatments like eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) and trauma-informed care can guide you to break the generational addiction cycle. Renaissance Ranch provides compassionate, supportive, evidence-based care that includes family therapy to aid you in your healing journey. To learn more, contact us at (801) 308-8898.