How do you imagine someone with an addictive personality? Can you imagine an alcoholic, someone on drugs, a chain smoker or a down-on-his-luck gambler?

Addictive behaviors are commonly thought of as behaviors that impair a person’s ability to function. They often do, but not all addictive behaviors have that effect. Some addictive behaviors do not negatively influence or impact the person’s life.

Many people don’t realize they even have the tendency because their behavior doesn’t fit the image they have in their minds of those who have it. Someone with an addictive personality can turn a positive activity, like exercising, into an obsession. As one mental health expert once said, healthy people plan exercise around their lives. Addicts plan their lives around exercise.

Those with addictive personalities have urges that other people do not have that can impede their ability to make good decisions. They have a tendency to do things that are okay in moderation, things that those without addictive personalities do with no problem, and become addicted to them. They are prone to becoming dependent on substances, activities and other people, almost anything. And they are at especially high risk of becoming addicted to drugs, alcohol, gambling, food, pornography, exercise, work, and codependency.

It is theorized that 15% of Americans have a predisposition to addiction. Doctors and clinicians still debate whether or not addictive personality exists. The National Institute on Drug Abuse calls it a brain disease. Although addictive personality has not been classified as a personality disorder by the American Psychological Association, there are common traits that people with a tendency have: certain characteristics that make them more susceptible to physical or psychological dependencies that can negatively affect their quality of life. Not everyone who demonstrates these characteristics will develop an addiction.

A common feature of the addictive personality is poor stress management skills. Without the benefit of healthy coping skills, they are prone to using substances, activities, or other people as a way to manage their emotional discomfort and relieve stress. They have a tendency to self-medicate, believing that they are only using it symptomatically, but in reality they are using it as a way of coping with life. Some have social anxiety or have trouble letting their guard down. Substances help them to let go and have fun.

Many with addictive personalities suffer from insecurity or are excessive approval seekers. They may use substances like drugs and alcohol to provide a temporary sense of worth, a pseudo-identity. Although they are aware that the sense of value that is achieved in this way is false, they like the way it feels and crave it more and more. They may turn to addictive substances to deal with insecurity, or ultimately feel powerless to stop an addiction once it begins.

Another marker of the addictive personality is a lack of ability to get in touch with feelings. The feelings are there, but they can be too painful to look at. Feeling makes them feel vulnerable and out of control. This causes someone to focus outward, looking for anything that makes them feel good on the inside and comforts them.

Those with addictive personalities often have a need for instant gratification. They crave the fast, powerful sensation that makes them feel good in a way nothing else can. The feeling of euphoria is short-lived, so they constantly seek more. This sometimes occurs with those who have obsessive or compulsive personalities, and those who are perfectionists.

The inability to form emotional bonds with other people is another characteristic of people with addictive personalities. Many of these people cannot make relationship commitments. Some distance themselves from others, believing that relationships of trust are unattainable. Some have brief, shallow relationships filled with emotional turmoil and often with people who also have addictive or abusive personalities. Substances such as drugs or alcohol become substitutes for the bond they lack with others.

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