A Combination of Factors: Understanding How Our Personality Traits May Relate to Addiction
The Dawn Wellness Centre and Rehab Thailand
A rising star on the Asian horizon in effective inpatient mental health and addiction treatment services.
Our personalities play a major role in our interests, our behaviour and how we approach life. But do they also influence whether or not we become addicted to something? Understanding the complexity of addiction causes and how our traits link to those can help us better understand the risks.
We have all heard the term “addictive personality,” often casually used as a way to explain why someone has an addiction. But what does that really mean? Can your personality cause you to become addicted to something?
Addiction is generally understood by experts to be a brain disorder, a chronic condition with complex risk factors that requires long-term management and care. Far different from previous beliefs about addiction as a lack of willpower or a personal failing, this approach has helped shift the focus of addiction treatment onto rebuilding the neuropathways in the brain and developing new healthy habits.
Evidence has not supported the idea that personality is a cause of addiction, making the idea of an “addictive personality” nothing more than a myth. However, some studies suggest that certain personality traits may be linked to an increased potential for substance abuse. Being aware of these traits and tendencies can help you make informed choices about how you approach risky behaviours.