(Stillness in the Storm Editor) Personality is something we all have yet is hard to pin down. Psychologists have defined personality in many different ways. But it should be understood that these definitions are evolving as our understanding of what it is to be human expands.
I’ll share that in my research, which touches on personal experience, academic study, and spiritual exploration, addiction appears to be a kind of sickness of the soul. If an individual has a spiritual practice that actually imparts growth and makes facing life’s challenges manageable, even exciting, addiction usually isn’t a problem.
The fact that almost everyone deals with some level of addictive behavior speaks to the sickness of our culture, namely because culture is the soil in which we learn to be people. The way you live your life, which translates into the quality of your life, was largely passed on to you from your culture. But this grander analysis of the true causes of addiction is for another article.
Psychologically, looking to the brain, certain reward centers or alarm systems can be hijacked, leading to maladaptive behaviors that help individuals manage disharmony in their being, whether emotional, intellectual, philosophic, or spiritual. For instance, those who suffer from anxiety due to an overactive amygdala, as a result of early childhood trauma, often drink alcohol because it helps provide some sense of relief.
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Thus, addiction is more akin to a coping mechanism than a hardwired feature of a person’s personality.
In the past, psychologists assumed that there must be some kind of addictive personality mechanism, meaning you can be “born an addict” and you’ll always have to deal with that disorder in life. But as research progressed, it’s becoming more apparent that addiction is learned—it’s a condition, not an aspect of nature.
The following study supports the idea that an addictive personality is more urban-myth than scientific fact.
– Justin
by Staff Writer, October 5th, 2019
Most of us know somebody who tends to get over involved in certain behaviors, and the saying often goes that they must have an “addictive personality”. But is there such a thing?
Summary: Researchers examine the psychology and genetics of why some people are more prone to addiction-like behaviors than others.
Source: The Conversation
The idea of an addictive personality is more pop-psychology than scientific.
What is personality?
To understand why the idea of an addictive personality is flawed, it’s important to first understand what psychologists mean when referring to personality.
Personality is comprised of broad, measurable, stable, individual traits that predict behaviour. So by definition, engaging in excessive behaviours cannot be considered a personality trait.
Though, there are personality traits that are associated with addiction.
Neuroticism is one of the “big five” personality dimensions. These are the five core traits that drive behavior. They include openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion/introversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.
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People who score high in neuroticism tend to be easily emotionally aroused. They are also more likely to engage in a number of excessive behaviors, including over-eating, excessive online gaming, social media over-use and substance dependence.
People who are highly neurotic might engage in excessive behaviors to help manage their emotions. Neuroticism has also been associated with a range of mental health conditions, which could lead one to wonder whether addiction is caused by mental illness.
There is evidence of this for some people. In these cases, people’s addictive behavior reduces negative emotions caused by mental illness. Though it could also be that certain personality factors such as neuroticism predispose a person to both mental illness and addiction separately.
Nature versus nurture
There is some evidence that both personality and addictive behaviors have a genetic component.
Five key genes have been found to appear to predispose people to experience substance dependence and other addictive behaviors.
One of these genes has also been associated with extroversion, another of the big five personality dimensions. Extroversion refers to the degree to which people “search for novel experiences and social connections that allow them to interact with other humans as much as possible”.
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These five genes reduce the functioning of the dopamine, or reward system of the brain. The brains of people with variants of the genes associated with extroversion and addictive behaviors use dopamine less efficiently. It has been proposed that this leads them to seek out pleasure.
Extroverts seek out new ways to come into contact with other people. The image is adapted from The Conversation news release.
Dopamine is often misrepresented as the pleasure neurotransmitter. A more accurate description of dopamine is that it is the motivation neurotransmitter. It motivates people to engage in certain behaviors – particularly those behaviors needed for survival such as eating and sex.
It makes sense then that variants of these genes have been found to be associated with “sensation seeking”, another dimension of personality. Sensation seeking is a “trait defined by the seeking of novel sensations, and the willingness to take physical, social, legal and financial risks for the sake of such experiences”. People with addictive behaviors also score high on this personality dimension.
Though to say these are genes for an addictive personality is a bit like saying the genes for height are the basketball genes. While some people who are tall are good at basketball, not all tall people have the opportunity or desire to learn the game.
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Similarly, not everybody with variants of the dopamine genes associated with excessive behaviors develops problems with substance dependence or other addictive behaviors. Environment is also important.
It’s likely that some people whose dopamine system is less efficient due to genetic variations get their dopamine fix through other activities such as car racing, snowboarding, surfing, sky diving and so on. And some people who develop a dependence on alcohol and other drugs do not have this genetic predisposition. They might develop problems due to a range of environmental influences such as trauma or social modeling of drug use.
So while there are common factors associated with personality that predict addiction, there is no personality type that will cause someone to partake in excessive behaviours. Addiction has multiple causes and just chalking it up to someone’s personality probably isn’t very helpful in dealing with it.
Source:
The Conversation
Media Contacts:
Stephen Bright – The Conversation
Image Source:
The image is adapted from The Conversation news release.
Stillness in the Storm Editor: Why did we post this?
Psychology is the study of the nature of mind. Philosophy is the use of that mind in life. Both are critically important to gain an understanding of as they are aspects of the self. All you do and experience will pass through these gateways of being. The preceding information provides an overview of this self-knowledge, offering points to consider that people often don’t take the time to contemplate. With the choice to gain self-awareness, one can begin to see how their being works. With the wisdom of self-awareness, one has the tools to master their being and life in general, bringing order to chaos through navigating the challenges with the capacity for right action.
– Justin
Not sure how to make sense of this? Want to learn how to discern like a pro? Read this essential guide to discernment, analysis of claims, and understanding the truth in a world of deception: 4 Key Steps of Discernment – Advanced Truth-Seeking Tools.
Stillness in the Storm Editor’s note: Did you find a spelling error or grammar mistake? Send an email to [email protected], with the error and suggested correction, along with the headline and url. Do you think this article needs an update? Or do you just have some feedback? Send us an email at [email protected]. Thank you for reading.
Source:
https://neurosciencenews.com/addictive-personality-15031/
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