exist between alcoholism as a learned behavior (rather than as a condition arising from any genetic predisposition) and self-esteem. This research is based upon the assumption that there is a direct connection between self-esteem and learned behaviors: While a person's self-esteem may of course be affected by inherited conditions (such as a birth defect) it is much more likely to be affected by conditions that the person believes that he or she has control over. Thus, to the extent that alcoholism is a learned behavior and to the extent that alcoholics believe that their condition is a learned behavior they are likely to suffer from lowered self-esteem for as long as they continue to drink.

Our attitudes about alcoholism have changed dramatically over the last fifty years as our conception of the condition - which causes so much harm and so much grief to so many people, including both the...
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