The addiction is not an illness. It’s not a physical, organic thing. The addiction is a consequence of learned experience and repetitions of patterns. Is alcoholism in the genes?
The answer is no.
In the science of epigenetics it’s been found that it’s the perception of your environment that controls your genes. You’re not a victim of your genes because you’re the one who can change your environment—or, more importantly, change your perception of your environment—and thus change your response to it.
Explore further with this Ted Talk spoken by Johann Hari, “Everything you think you know about addiction is wrong?”