[angelicgoldfish05]

What is the difference between being an addict and having an addictive personality?

I know I have obsessive tendencies and perhaps struggle with codependency. I stopped drinking nearly 22 months ago, and quit smoking also around the same time. But I still have addictions: coffee, sugar, books, music, relationships... even working too much has served its purpose ss an addiction.

So I am wondering what the difference is between having an addictive personality or being an addict. I don't think it is just drugs and alcohol that makes an addict. Seems like anyone who uses something to try and fill the emptiness or substitute love and relationships, numb out, ease pain and loneliness, etc would be considered an addict.

Therefore, I am an addict. NOT just a person with an addictive personality. An addictive personality might be where a person has a tendency or predisposition to addiction but does not use substances in the same way an addict does.

What do you all think? Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

[Altered Moment]

Here are some articles on it.
The Addictive Personality: Why Recovery is a Lifetime Thing | World of Psychology
The Addictive Personality | Psychology Today

The reason is because addiction depends, first and foremost, upon having an addictive personality. Such people, estimated at perhaps 10%-15% of the population, simply don't know when to stop. Do you enjoy a glass or two of wine with dinner? If so, why not have ten or twenty? Did you ever buy a lottery ticket on your birthday? If so, why not sell your house and buy 100,000? How about going to church on Sunday? Does it make you feel good? If so, why not go every day twice a day? The point here is simple: Too much of a good thing can be bad. And yet people with addictive personalities will get hooked on alcohol and gambling and religion. Believe it or not, being addicted is nothing more than an out-of-control habit. The difference between that 10%-15% and everyone else is the difference between using and abusing.

For me I believe I was born with an addictive personality. Somehow based in genetics and biology. Of course upbringing and environment played a role, but from the young age of 14 I easily became addicted to alcohol and pot. I would try any drug that was put in front of me.

I believe that I have an addictive personality because I can easily get addicted to anything. Work, love, sex, porn, gambling, drugs, etc etc. Quick fix relationships have gotten me in the past. Work has gotten me. Photography. Online Gaming. All in sobriety. This is why I have to always work on my recovery. I have not used drugs and alcohol in 19 years but behavioral addictions are always easily available. The internet, the computer, these forums. It is something I have to always work on and the potential will probably never go away. I consider myself a recovered addict....at least from drugs and alcohol, but I could easily say once an addict always an addict. My propensity to get addicted to anything is always there. This is very very common in AA and NA. People rely on cigarettes and coffee, very often get into addictive relationships, workaholism is very common. This is why we have to constantly work on our recovery to become better people and so that our destructive behaviors will get better. I am still addicted to cigarettes and probably pepsi. To much time on the computer. My depression complicates things. I will always have an addictive personality it is just a matter of how much remission it is in, how hard I have worked on changing those behaviors and learned to deal with problems and stress without turning to an addiction.

In my view there is no difference between an addictive personality and an addict. You have to have an addictive personality to become a true addict. I don't mean someone who gets addicted to vicadin or benzo's for awhile and then quits and has some withdrawals. Or even cigarettes. A lot of people smoke cigarettes but non addicts can quit with some effort and help much easier.

So I don't define addiction like being dependent on antidepressants to feel better, or physical addiction to benzo's, or some peoples use of cigarettes or coffee. My sister in law can smoke two cigarettes a week and that is it. I cannot at all relate to that. Someone who has two glasses of wine for dinner and that is it is beyond my comprehension. For a true addict it is all about getting your symptoms and behavior in remission and keeping it there and constantly working on getting better and free of all addictions.

Just my take on it.

[Altered Moment]

Therefore, I am an addict. NOT just a person with an addictive personality. An addictive personality might be where a person has a tendency or predisposition to addiction but does not use substances in the same way an addict does.

I guess that brings up the question of whether someone with an addictive personality can never become an addict. I think it is true. If someone with an addictive personality is raised in the right environment never tries drugs and alcohol and so on they could repress that part of them. I am sure it happens a lot. However if that person starts using or abusing something chances are they are quickly going to become addicted to it. An addict.