At least twice, I had doctors describe me as having an "addictive personality", and saying things like "that's just how you're wired". I never went back to thos

At least twice, I had doctors describe me as having an "addictive personality", and saying things like "that's just how you're wired". I never went back to those doctors, as I refused to accept that's what I was stuck with being. I'd been an excessive drinker from my late teens through to my early 30s. "Alcoholic", I'm not sure about; I've seen others who were formally diagnosed alcoholic, including one friend who ultimately died of it, and I wasn't that bad, but I was at least very socially dependent. I also smoked tobacco heavily and dabbled in some substances - not the most addictive ones, but it could have gone down that path if I hadn't seen the warning signs. At 33 I stopped drinking and smoking completely (I'd quit smoking a few years earlier but had started again that year). For two whole years I didn't have a drop or puff, and focused on eating a very healthy diet, cleaning up my body and getting my career and relationships in better shape. Along the way I found some deep emotional healing techniques. I started doing them regularly, and have continued doing them consistently for nearly 10 years since. These days I can drink regularly for pleasure, and I never have a problem with it. I barely ever get drunk unless it's a major celebration, but if I do, I bounce back fine and have no temptation to do it again any time soon. And I'm never remotely tempted to smoke or use other substances when drinking, even when around others who are. One of those doctors expressed shock that I'd gone to all the trouble of quitting my old ways, only to start drinking again. He couldn't believe that it would be possible to go from the way I was to having a healthy relationship with alcohol. The most significant factor that's made the difference has been the emotional healing work I've been doing. It's a practice that methodically finds and enables releasing all traumas, complexes and sabotaging beliefs/patterns from the earliest times in life. So maybe it's valid to say one can have an "addictive personality" and that I was one of those people. But we assume that "addictive personality" equals "hard wired", without realising that personality is very alterable if you work at it consistently over a long enough period of time, with a focus on the deep subconscious/unconscious aspects of personality. I think organisations like AA do great harm when they tell their patients that you're an "addict for life". It's such a disempowering belief to have about one's self, and it's little surprise that people relapse when they're given no hope of ever being completely free of their addiction and able to live like other healthy people. These days, I have a young child, a great relationship with my partner, family members and friends, my career is going fine, and my physiological health continues to improve. The doctor I see these days, on the infrequent occasions I need to see him, says "whatever you're doing, keep doing it".