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That's very interesting. Do you think addicts already have those personality traits from before they became addicted, or the traits developed as a result of the

That's very interesting. Do you think addicts already have those personality traits from before they became addicted, or the traits developed as a result of the addiction?

Alex3917 13y ago
Most addicts are abused (or experience comparable longterm stress) as children, which causes brain damage, which leads to addiction. There is a certain genetic component also, but it mostly has to do with your childhood.
- zafka 13y ago
  This sounds rather much like speculation to me. Do you have any sources to back up your "Most" statement. Since the disease is generational, quite often children of addicts will have a stressful upbringing, but your theory of brain damage from stress causing the addiction is quite a stretch.
  - Alex3917 13y ago
    Gabor Mate discusses this in his Angry Ghosts book. If you search through my comments for his name, there is a link to an interview where he discusses this also.
    - zafka 13y ago
      I did not find your comments, but I did a quick google search. Here is one refutation that I found: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/addiction-in-society/201112/the-seductive-dangerous-allure-gabor-mat http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/addiction-in-society/201... It says just about what I would have guessed too. :)
      - Alex3917 13y ago
        What's the point of reading a refutation if you haven't read the original? You don't even know what you're reading.
  - peller 13y ago
    It's not necessarily always "abuse" so much as mis-parenting and/or unhealthy environments. I forget who said it but there's a quote that goes something like this: 'All healthy families share similar traits and patterns, but unhealthy families all have their own hosts of unique issues.' For one source that hit home for me, see Addiction as an Attachment Disorder by Philip Flores
    - chas 13y ago
      That is the first line of Anna Karenina: "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."
JanezStupar 13y ago
From anecdotal experience I would say that behavior is __always__ first. I can even think of more than one person of top of my head that is obsessive about stuff and does not consume drugs.
visakanv 13y ago
I used to read obsessively as a kid. I also ate lots and lots of candy- I'd finish entire packets at one go. Went on to be an internet addict and cigarette smoker. I think... I just never learned focus, discipline, self-control, portion-control, when to stop. I think it's a habit more than anything else. I think I've always had some "addictive" personality, but I think I could've kept it in better check if I developed habits of discipline and control- which I never really did.

That's very interesting. Do you think addicts already have those personality traits from before they became addicted, or the traits developed as a result of the addiction?

Alex3917 13y ago

Most addicts are abused (or experience comparable longterm stress) as children, which causes brain damage, which leads to addiction. There is a certain genetic component also, but it mostly has to do with your childhood.

zafka 13y ago
This sounds rather much like speculation to me. Do you have any sources to back up your "Most" statement. Since the disease is generational, quite often children of addicts will have a stressful upbringing, but your theory of brain damage from stress causing the addiction is quite a stretch.
- Alex3917 13y ago
  Gabor Mate discusses this in his Angry Ghosts book. If you search through my comments for his name, there is a link to an interview where he discusses this also.
  - zafka 13y ago
    I did not find your comments, but I did a quick google search. Here is one refutation that I found: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/addiction-in-society/201112/the-seductive-dangerous-allure-gabor-mat http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/addiction-in-society/201... It says just about what I would have guessed too. :)
    - Alex3917 13y ago
      What's the point of reading a refutation if you haven't read the original? You don't even know what you're reading.
- peller 13y ago
  It's not necessarily always "abuse" so much as mis-parenting and/or unhealthy environments. I forget who said it but there's a quote that goes something like this: 'All healthy families share similar traits and patterns, but unhealthy families all have their own hosts of unique issues.' For one source that hit home for me, see Addiction as an Attachment Disorder by Philip Flores
  - chas 13y ago
    That is the first line of Anna Karenina: "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."

JanezStupar 13y ago

From anecdotal experience I would say that behavior is __always__ first. I can even think of more than one person of top of my head that is obsessive about stuff and does not consume drugs.

visakanv 13y ago

I used to read obsessively as a kid. I also ate lots and lots of candy- I'd finish entire packets at one go. Went on to be an internet addict and cigarette smoker. I think... I just never learned focus, discipline, self-control, portion-control, when to stop. I think it's a habit more than anything else. I think I've always had some "addictive" personality, but I think I could've kept it in better check if I developed habits of discipline and control- which I never really did.