Why Does Alcohol Dependence Occur

 Breaking Down the Causes 🧩

"It's your own fault," "a lack of willpower" — these stereotypes prevent us from understanding the true nature of alcoholism. In reality, it is a disease that almost always has a complex combination of causes at its core. Let's break it down.

🔹 Psychological Causes ("An Attempt to Escape from Oneself")

Most often, alcohol begins to be used as "medicine":

-  For depression, anxiety, and panic attacks.

- For chronic stress and burnout.

-  To numb the effects of psychological trauma (violence, loss).

- To overcome self-doubt and difficulties in communication.

🔹 Social Causes ("Environmental Pressure")

Our environment and habits play a huge role:

1) Traditions and Culture: "It's the norm" at holidays, meetings with friends, and corporate events.

2) Family Script: Children who grew up in families with alcoholism often adopt this behavioral model.

3) Social Circle: Constant suggestions to "have a drink," pressure from colleagues or friends.

4) Availability and it's promotion in some places.

🔹 Biological Causes ("What's in the Genes and Brain Chemistry")

This is what does not depend on willpower:

1) Genetics: Hereditary predisposition is one of the most powerful factors. Some people are naturally at a higher risk of developing an addiction.

2) Brain Biochemistry: Alcohol artificially stimulates the release of the "pleasure hormone" — dopamine. Over time, the brain stops producing it on its own and demands a new dose.

3) Metabolic Characteristics: The speed at which alcohol and its toxins are broken down varies from person to person.

🔹 Spiritual Causes ("A Loss of Meaning")

Many rehabilitation programs also consider this aspect:

- A feeling of inner emptiness and a lack of goals.

- A loss of meaning in life, an existential crisis.

✅ Key Takeaway on General Causes:

Alcoholism is almost always a "storm" where several causes combine. For example: a person with a genetic predisposition (biological cause) + going through a difficult divorce (psychological cause) + working in a drinking culture (social cause).

Understanding this is the first step towards stopping the blame and starting to help the person comprehensively: with medication, psychotherapy, and social support.

Beyond the well-known causes, alcohol dependence is often rooted in non-obvious yet powerful family and personal dynamics. Here is what I often see in practice:

1. Hypersensitivity and Unrealized Potential 🎭

Many people with alcohol dependence are actually highly sensitive, finely attuned individuals.

Their special trait is high empathy, intuition, and an ability to sense the moods and energies of other people.

But without a "psychic immune system," this gift becomes an unbearable burden. In this case, alcohol is used as a "spiritual anesthetic" — to dull this painful sensitivity and give the psyche a rest.

2. The Family System: When a Man (in my example, but this spot could be occupied by a woman) is Not Given His Rightful Place 👨👩👧👦

Here, addiction is a symptom of a disrupted order in the family system (the laws of hierarchy described in systemic family therapy).

 If a woman (consciously or not) remains energetically a "daughter" to her ideal father, she cannot fully be a "wife" to her husband.

 Her partner in such a system does not feel like the protector, the "big man." He ends up on the periphery, in the role of "just another child."

Unable to find his rightful, respected place beside his wife, he unconsciously regresses to an infantile position. And the bottle becomes a symbolic substitute for the mother's breast — the simplest way to get warmth, comfort, and fill the inner void.

3. Early Attachment Trauma: "Not Enough of Mother's Breast" 👶

 It's not about physical hunger, but rather a deficit of physical and emotional contact, closeness, safety, and unconditional acceptance.

 If a child did not receive enough of this contact in childhood (the mother was cold, depressed, often absent), in adulthood a "hole in the soul" forms — a constant, unacknowledged yearning for that early comfort.

 Alcohol (like other addictions: to certain foods, sugar, etc.) becomes that very surrogate for maternal warmth, which temporarily numbs this ancient, archaic pain of loneliness and abandonment.

✅ Summary:

These causes show that alcoholism is often not just a bad habit, but:

❤ A cry from the soul of a hypersensitive person.

❤ A signal of a disrupted order in the family system.

❤ An attempt to patch up an early attachment trauma that cannot be consciously understood or expressed in words.

Working with these levels requires deep inner work, but understanding them gives hope: by becoming aware of the root, one can find a true, healing solution.

If you are facing this problem — you are not alone. Seeking help is a sign of strength. 🫂