5 Behaviors That Reveal Someone Has An Addictive Personality

Addictive personalities refer to a set of traits that are believed to indicate an increased risk of someone developing an addiction. There is little universal agreement on these exact traits. But generally they relate to someone’s tendency to rely on unsafe habits to an extreme degree to deal with problems.

Addictive personalities are a sensitive topic. And addiction is such a broad term that it is difficult to pin down exact behaviors to attribute to them. Still, here are 5 behaviors that reveal someone has an addictive personality.

1. Inability to self-regulate

Self-regulation refers to the ability to innately know when enough is enough. For example:

• At a buffet, you can tell when you’ve had more than enough. So you can stop once you have a considerable amount of fullness in your stomach.
• When enjoying a glass of wine or a bottle of beer every night, you should not reach a second, third or fourth. Nor should you drink in a stupor
• You can know when to stop a specific activity and take a break to do something else. Or you may find that you have spent too much time on something and will take a break.

Of course, as a human being, you will occasionally let go of those limits. You may have eaten a whole tub of ice cream after a breakup, got loose and been hit by a weekend birthday party, or spent two days in a row on a big project. But even that has an element of self-regulation. You know it’s a deal from time to time. So you feel good doing it, or you may even feel a little bad and promise not to do it again anytime soon.

Impulsive behavior refers to the act of acting without considering the possible impacts of those actions. An impulsive person can engage in activities with obvious adverse effects without thinking about the future, essentially following whatever whims he has with misplaced and poor planning. positive thinking. This is a common hallmark of an addictive personality.

Disconnection

Those who are dealing with many severe and difficult emotions, such as anxiety or depression, may withdraw into themselves and try to manage their problems in unhealthy ways. This results in the use of addictive substances or means to feel better. Therefore, they become dependent on those substances and develop a tolerance over time that turns into a full-blown addiction.

Compulsion

People who develop addictions may show symptoms of obsessive compulsion, depending on research. Essentially, they can become too rigid in their efforts to manage impulses. Those efforts can still be directed to other addictive acts and substances to develop a long-lasting habit over time. This can often lead to a habitual and compulsive addiction to substances, following an obsessive schedule or pattern to keep it the way they want.

3. Negative and harmful behavioral traits

An individual with an addictive personality may be more prone to negative behaviors that involve malicious acts towards others. Even if they feel a sense of remorse for these actions, they are willing to behave in this way to get what they want to further their addiction or escape the consequences of their addiction. While not all addicts exhibit these traits, the majority of those lost in their addiction do. Here are some examples:

· Lying

Lying is a central part of addiction. An addict not only lies to himself, but he lies to others about his condition. They say they are fine and have it under control, and they lie even more to get to the topic of their addiction. Denial is a powerful thing that influences him, and sometimes for an addict, lies feel like the truth.

Change of guilt

An addict remains addicted as long as he blames others for his addiction. Maybe life was unfair to them. Maybe someone’s actions pushed them to the limit. Or maybe they even blame the subject of their obsession for the fact that they are addicted. It’s a never-ending cycle where you never take responsibility or take responsibility.

Handling

To get to the topic of their addiction, addicts manipulate others. They are reliant on that theme and will do anything to control it while staying afloat and alive, even if it means making everyone believe things that are not true. Your emotional stories make money, your promises get support, and your expressions of love make others feel ready to accept your empty words.

4. The desire for risk and feeling

The act of searching for “sensations,” that is, new sources of novel experiences, adrenaline rush, and rewarding responses, can be part of an addictive personality. The search drive that has not been experienced before opens the door to potentially dangerous experimentation, ranging from alcohol to drugs and beyond, for example. studies.

Assumption of risks

People with addictive personalities like to take risks and do things that could be dangerous. There are many possible reasons for this, but no one can deny that addictive subjects and substances are risky enough to be attractive to those with this trait.

· In search of adventures

There is nothing wrong with a little adventure, but there is a balance between positive thinking in the spontaneity and the addiction to the rush that it entails. Those with addictive personalities may seek to use anything that gives them a dopamine high, which is often a common trait in people with high levels of the feel-good neurotransmitter dopamine, and therefore low sensitivity to regular sources of that hormone.

5. Being addicted

Let’s be honest. The easiest way to tell if someone has a supposedly addictive personality is to see if they are already struggling with other addictions. All other symptoms can appear in someone who does not develop an addiction at all, whereas a real addict may have shown little or none of the other symptoms before falling into the addiction.

Addiction counselors hotly debated the concept of addictive personality over the years. A wide range of experts even discredited him. Is not a positive identifier. In fact, it can actually be harmful for addicts and those in danger of addiction.

The argument has many nuances. On the one hand, in favor of the idea of ​​addictive personality:

• The ability to take note of certain personality traits and dimensions that put people at risk for addiction sounds helpful for diagnosis and treatment.
• A person’s awareness of meeting the definition of these traits can help prevent the risk of developing bad habits that could lead to addiction.
• Human beings have free will; People can make decisions that end up leading to addictive patterns with full awareness of their actions, and it takes a certain type of personality to do so voluntarily.
• Risk takers are more likely to find things that could be addictive in the first place.

On the other hand, in favor of abandoning the idea of ​​the “addictive personality:

The basis of addiction is in chemistry; it is about how the brain responds to hormones and neurotransmitters, and personality often has less to do with that than circumstances and developed mental disorders; This is scientifically backed

• You may, throughout your life, have seen people who became addicted to things despite not having any of the stereotypical signs of an addictive personality.
• The “addictive personality” label stigmatizes addicts as individuals who manipulate, cheat, lie, and commit crimes.
• People who do not have addictive personality traits may believe they are safe from that.
• People who have addictive personality traits may believe that they cannot overcome addiction because it is built into their brains and the type of people they are.
• There is a total lack of evidence to support the label of an “addictive personality.”

In short, the only “true” sign of an addictive personality may be whether or not one is addicted. Therefore, it is best not to get too involved in these ideas. Thinking positively towards yourself and the people around you is more beneficial than assigning labels based on traits.

Final thoughts on some behaviors that reveal an addictive personality