Can Holiday Celebrations Lead to Alcoholism and Addiction?
Overindulgence and excess are the key words during the holiday season. Between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve, Americans are given permission to blow off their diets and their budgets and indulge to their heart’s content. Moderation is not encouraged at holiday dinners with endless bottles of wine, stocked bars at company parties, and the endless bowls of eggnog at friends’ homes. The question is, does all this overindulgence lead to addiction? Do stocked bars and Christmas cheer in the form of hot toddies and eggnog lead to alcoholism?
Alcoholism and Addiction: Environment and Access
It’s true that one of the factors that contributes to the development of alcoholism and addiction is availability. Nobody was addicted to club drugs before somebody developed them and started passing them out, right? You can’t become addicted to something that simply isn’t on the shelves or available to try. So, yes, the access to drugs and alcohol during the holidays can sometimes push people who were already alcohol abusers into a full blown addiction, and many alcoholics have stories about taking their first drinks at family holiday parties. Still others talk about discovering alcohol as a social lubricant at events such as these and applying that principle throughout the rest of the year.
Access Alone Does Not An Addiction Make
While the sheer quantity and availability of alcohol during the holidays can make it difficult for alcoholics to avoid the temptation to drink and it can be the “straw that broke the camel’s back” for those who were on their way there already, no holiday party or holiday season should bear the full brunt or responsibility for the development of a lifelong addiction. Many people overindulge on everything, including alcohol, during the holidays but manage to keep it together for the rest of the year without issue. Still others enjoy the same amount of alcohol as they usually would despite the abundance of alcoholic beverages.
The fact remains that other factors must be present to create addiction. For some, a genetic predisposition toward alcoholism can turn their first holiday party season into the beginning of a lifetime of addiction. For others, co-occurring psychological disorders push them to continue drinking long after New Year’s Eve has passed. Those who abuse alcohol and drugs regularly or have binged regularly in the past, a holiday season replete with indulgence may be the turning point into a life of addiction.
Teen Alcoholism: Family Tradition or Harmful Push Toward a Life of Addiction?
Most parents never conceive that one eggnog or a beer during the football game could be what starts their child on a life of addiction. Unfortunately, studies show that the earlier a child is introduced to alcohol and/ or other drugs, the more likely he or she will be to begin abusing them during their teens, which can evolve into teen or adult drug addiction. There is no such thing as a harmless amount of alcohol for a child, family traditions notwithstanding.
Is it worth the risk?