Is there such a thing as an Addictive Personality?
Member
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 105
Hi Sober Freckles
Fascinating question.
I feel pretty certain there is such a thing - simple observation provides me with ample evidence.
In addition, I would say that what we call personality is obviously (to me at least!) a mixture of genetic predisposition and patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving embedded over time, especially in formative years.
All of the work on genome sequencing suggests very strongly that there is a great deal in the way that we process certain proteins and produce and re-uptake others (like neurotransmitters). So, some people may be essentially super-responders to alcohol but that is only one tiny aspect of the myriad of genetic characteristics that might make various styles of addiction more likely.
I can trace alcohol problems through 5 generations of my family including households that were 'highly sociable' and others that were mainly teetotal.
For me, that is all very fascinating. However the only question that really matters is, 'what the heck am I going to do about it?!?!?!'
Still working on that one - but making progress!!!
:-)
CC
Fascinating question.
I feel pretty certain there is such a thing - simple observation provides me with ample evidence.
In addition, I would say that what we call personality is obviously (to me at least!) a mixture of genetic predisposition and patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving embedded over time, especially in formative years.
All of the work on genome sequencing suggests very strongly that there is a great deal in the way that we process certain proteins and produce and re-uptake others (like neurotransmitters). So, some people may be essentially super-responders to alcohol but that is only one tiny aspect of the myriad of genetic characteristics that might make various styles of addiction more likely.
I can trace alcohol problems through 5 generations of my family including households that were 'highly sociable' and others that were mainly teetotal.
For me, that is all very fascinating. However the only question that really matters is, 'what the heck am I going to do about it?!?!?!'
Still working on that one - but making progress!!!
:-)
CC
Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 3,550
I used to be compulsive-obsessive, perfectionist. Now I try to focus on moderation. Got a lot of benefit from Ernie Kurtz' book, The Spirituality of Imperfection. Learning through failure. The Scots must have been aware of that when they invented golf, said to be "An ineffectual attempt to place a small ball in a hole with an instrument ill adapted to the purpose". Most professionals realize that the price of experience is learning from failure. I once worked for an attorney who was such a perfectionist that he insisted that there be a period (.) after the words "per cent" (Yes two words! Because it's an abbreviation for "per centum"! even though it was in the middle of a sentence (like "A owes B six per cent. of the proceeds"). Working for him was so demanding that his secretary quit every two weeks, then being hired back again. He would send me over to the city post office at midnight (the only one open at that hour) to post a letter so that it would get to a client the next morning. This was dangerous and while I waited for the subway to come so as to go home the station was deserted and I would hear footsteps coming my way steadily, closer and closer. I would hide behind a pillar. Eventually my blood pressure reached 210 over 130 and I decided on a different career. I'm alive!
W.
W.
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