While the cause of alcohol addiction cannot be narrowed down to one specific cause, there are many contributing causes that overall become the cause of alcohol addiction for alcohol addicts. The cause may be genetic, or perhaps from some psychological need to numb a persons past. There can not be just one cause listed, as while some persons will have a cause in common, many people have multiple causes, and other persons will have a different base cause entirely. Our purpose here is merely to discuss some of the various causes for alcohol addiction.

Medical causes of alcohol addiction are plentiful. Heredity is a known cause. In America, the Native American Indian is known to have a hereditary predisposition to alcohol addiction. Therefore, frequently when a Native American Indian there displays an alcohol addiction, heredity is certainly looked at as a strong possible cause of the alcohol addiction. Holistic medical practitioners view alcohol addiction as having two strong causes. One cause is beryllium. Beryllium is connected to petroleum products, and is produced by such items as a common "hurricane lamp" which burns a kerosene style of petroleum product. Another holistic cause is ergot. Ergot is a specific type of mould which can be found growing in alcoholic beverages, as well as on such items as breads, and rye seeds. Back in the 1600's in America, there was a travesty known as the Salem Witch Trials. It is now believed that the cause to the entire episode may have been thru ergot poisoning. The ergot can cause mood elevations, which are also found with alcohol. It also can cause hallucinations, which is what is viewed as causing the mass hysteria resulting in many persons being prosecuted as "witches".

There are dozens of psychological causes for alcohol addiction. One cause is depression. Not very surprisingly, while depression may cause alcohol addiction, it is a cyclic effect. The alcohol addiction in itself can cause depression, which can continue to cause the alcohol addiction, which once again can cause depression, and on and on, again and again. As the human psyche can be quite vulnerable, especially in childhood, the cause of childhood trauma is quite often seen. An incident, from a death to sexual molestation during childhood can cause a psychological need to try and forget, and the alcohol addiction results as a cause of the attempt to forget the pains suffered earlier in childhood. As you can clearly see, there are many possible causes for alcohol addiction. The issue is to attempt to identify such and begin working on rectifying them, in order to help end the addiction.