Alcoholism is a condition composed of chronic remittance and relapse. AUDs, like other neuropsychiatric disorders, have multifaceted etiology and pathophysiology, these include complex genetic and epigenetic components, environmental and social factors (Moussas, Christodoulou, & Douzenis, 2009). There is a fourfold increase in alcohol-dependence risk in relatives of known alcoholics, and monozygotic twins of alcohol-dependent individuals have a greater predisposition for an AUD than dizygotic twins (Basiaux et al., 2001; Lykouras, Moussas, & Botsis, 2004). Interestingly, children adopted into an alcoholic household have the same fourfold increase in the risk for developing an AUD, as do offspring from the same parents (Lykouras et al., 2004; Nolen-Hoeksema & Hilt, 2006). This ultimately means there is a higher risk to develop an AUD if the person has alcoholic parents, which could be explained by genetics or an active component to alcohol abuse (heritability accounts for ~ 40–60% of the risk to develop an AUD). However, the environment cannot be ignored which is illustrated by individuals adopted into an alcoholic household having the same risk of developing an AUD as those born to alcoholic
