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Originally Posted by zinco14532323
I am a recovering addict/ alcoholic who also suffers from depression and anxiety so I can only look at it from that angle. I got clean and sober in AA. Whether you have OCD or an addictive personality only you and maybe professionals can decide. It is not the labels so much but what will help me overcome. I can tell you without a doubt that the defense mechanisms you describe are extremely common is the recovery world. If you want to work on your sobriety get in a relationship it is often said. Relationships tend to force us in your face confront fear of abandonment, fear of intimacy, fear of commitment, etc. You are not alone in having slept with a lot of women yet only had four week relationships. Something in us gets triggered at a certain point and its time to go. It certainly is possible to have a good relationship if both people are willing to face those issues and work through them together. Sometimes they are too powerful and we can't handle it within the context of a relationship and have to keep working on it on our own. Hopefully we will both have very fulfilling loving relationships at some point. I certainly want one.
I can say for me there is a strong genetic biological component to my addictive personality and depression but there was also learned behaviors from growing up with an alcoholic father. I have walls and they are thick. Even after so many years of working on this stuff. It has been years since I have been in a relationship. The last one I was in was two and a half years and it was the healthiest. It did reach a point though where her walls and defense mechanisms were to powerful and she bailed. Why I have not been in one since is complicated and has a lot to do with depression I think. But it could just as well have to do with my walls and fear.
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This is a great reply, Zinco. You're right, I'm certainly not alone in facing these issues, even at my age. The part that I find absurd, almost paradoxical/ironic, is that no one will openly admit to or discuss these issues. Contrary to popular belief, the sleeping with many women part is NOT something I would ever brag or boast about; quite the opposite. I envy he who opens himself fully to another for complete companionship without any fear or worry.
I also believe that I have the biological component to some extent, and my father is also an alcoholic (albeit one in total denial and one to whom I no longer speak). Having said that, many of my drinking habits have been inherited through watching him sip whisky alone in the evenings and thinking that is totally normal...
I really believe that wonderful things can come from these issues though. I know that if I continue on the path that I am currently on, by my 23rd birthday I will be a wholly different man, and lightyears ahead of my friends in terms of mindfulness.
Here is to silver linings.
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