Fashions change in nearly everything - including the popular and
             medical opinions about alcoholism. A half-century ago, most people
             (including medical professionals as well as alcoholics themselves) believed
             that alcoholism was a question of free will: People became alcoholics
             because they chose to drink and did not have the moral (or emotional or
             psychological) ability to stop drinking. Over the past several decades,
             ideas about the root causes of alcoholism changed substantially as the
             pendulum swung from one extreme (i.e. alcoholism is a moral weakness) to
             the other (alcoholism is a disease caused by a genetic predisposition). In
             the past decade, the pendulum has begun swinging back slightly so that now
             most medical and social-work professionals view alcoholism as a learned
             behavior - although there is also although there is little doubt most
             alcoholics have some element of genetic predisposition for the condition.
             This paper explores the phenomenon of alcoholism as we understand it at
             this point, as a condition that is partly learned (i.e. the result of
             freely engaged in choices) and partly genetic.
             The question of whether alcoholism is an acquired behavior or a
             genetic or a combination of the two might not seem to be terribly important
             either to the alcoholic who is suffering or to her or his family and
             friends who suffer as well. But in fact it is extremely important in terms
             of how one treats the condition - and also in how the condition is viewed
             socially. We can draw an analogy to a condition like diabetes: It doesn't
             little good to lecture someone about the importance of good eating habits
             and regular exercise to prevent diabetes if their condition is genetically
             based (although of course diet and exercise can still help to control it),
             but it does a tremendous amount of good to talk to an individual about
             environmental factors if his or her diabetes is caused b...