Understanding the Addictive Personality

The reality of addiction pertains not only to substances (such as tobacco, drugs and alcohol) but also to any kind of compulsive behavior. This behavior can center on a multitude of activities: work, gambling, sex, eating, etc. Addiction can be seen as a kind of relationship where a person depends upon a certain object or type of activity to satisfy his or her emotional needs. Seen in that light, many more people can be considered addicts than has previously been supposed.

The problem of addiction has been explored from the angle of its biological, emotional, and even social aspects. Various theories have been postulated concerning its true root causes, but they are not always in agreement. Many addicts do have certain personality traits in common and tend to go through similar processes as their addictions escalate, however; and these factors, when considered together, comprise what is referred to as the addictive personality.

The downward spiral usually goes through four stages: experimentation, casual use, compulsive use, and then full addiction. On an emotional level, this process usually begins with an urge for relief, either from stress, loneliness, discomfort, or other factors. Because addictive substances and activities seem to produce a positive and pleasurable change in one's mood, they provide the means (seemingly) of leaving unpleasant emotions behind. Compulsive use begins when one feels that there's no other way to cope with certain problems without resorting to the substance or activity. Submitting to this idea, completely, constitutes addiction.

In physiological terms - and this pertains mainly to substances - casual use leads to compulsive use when people need to take more and more of a certain substance to reach the same levels of sensation that they experienced in the beginning stage. When physical addiction has been established, such people will experience withdrawal symptoms - such as tension, sweating, and tremors - when they stop using the substance.

Addiction can be seen as an attempt to simplify the conditions of one's life. Instead of focusing on the myriad struggles that are always a part of life, an addict will narrow his or her consciousness, effectively tuning out other stimuli and focusing on the habit-forming substance or activity to the exclusion of all else. Withdrawal has been noted as a typical symptom of an addiction in its advanced stages; but in many ways withdrawing is the intent (at least subconsciously) of the would-be addict from the start. An addictive personality, then, can be defined as a certain predisposition towards this kind of escape. Ultimately, it may not matter whether this tendency is provoked by physiological or emotional causes, because the damage that is wrought, in the end, will be the same either way.