Addiction is a fairly broad term; it is most often associated with substance use disorders, but it can also be extended to cover a number of other compulsive behaviors, including sex, internet, television, gambling, food, and shopping.
[1] This is a fairly contentious topic, with many experts suggesting the term be retired due to a lack of cumulative evidence supporting the existence of addictive personality.
[4] The strongest consensus is that genetic factors play the largest role in determining a predisposition for addictive behaviors.
Forty to seventy percent of the population variance in the expression of addictions can be explained by genetic factors.
For example, depression due to physical disease[11] can cause feelings of hopelessness that are mitigated after successful treatment of the underlying condition, and addiction can increase dependence on others.
A study based on social cognitive theories, included a personality-targeted intervention that was shown to help treat substance addiction.
[12] According to David Goldman, a prominent alcoholism researcher,[13] addiction is one of the behavioral disorders most strongly correlated with genetic makeup.
In these rats, a positive correlation was found between locomotor response to novel stimuli and the amount of amphetamine self-administered during the first few days of testing.
Exposure to sustained stress in childhood, such as physical or sexual abuse, especially accompanied by unpredictable parental behavior strongly correlates with drug addiction and overeating in adulthood.
[19] Children who tend to react to distress in a more rash way have been linked to becoming more likely to drink and smoke in their adolescence.
Results from this research found that this was because the reaction to distress affected psychosocial learning, which led to increased expectancy to drink or smoke.
[21] Addiction can be defined as an excessive amount of time and resources spent in engaging in an activity or an experience that somehow affects the person's quality of life.
[23] People that face this issue are currently defined to have a brain disease as promoted by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and other authorities.
[24] People who experience addictive personality disorders typically act on impulses and cannot deal with delayed gratification.
[25] At the same time, people with this type of personality tend to believe that they do not fit into societal norms and therefore, acting on impulses, deviate from conformity to rebel.
[3] These individuals may show impulsive behavior such as excessive caffeine consumption, Internet use, eating chocolate or other sugar-laden foods, television watching, or even running.
Likewise, those who have low self-esteem also seek peer approval; therefore, they participate in "attractive" activities such as smoking or drinking to try to fit in.
Addictive substances usually stop primary and secondary neuroses, meaning people with personality disorders like the relief from their pain.
[29] Addiction is defined by scholars as "a biopsychosocial disorder characterized by persistent use of drugs (including alcohol) despite substantial harm and adverse consequences".
[31] A group of British forensic psychologists and data scientists analysed a new large database of users of psychoactive substances.
[32] The results of the detailed analysis of modern data support partially the hypothesis about psychological predisposition to addiction.
These people run the risk of being labeled as stigmas and become incorrectly marginalized, and these misjudgments of personality may then lead to poor mental, medical, and social health practices.
The other side argues that addiction is in chemistry, as in how the brain's synapses respond to neurotransmitters and is therefore not affected by personality.
A major argument in favor of defining and labeling an addictive personality has to do with the human ability to make decisions and the notion of free will.
This can be seen in that people are not forced to drink excessively or smoke every day, but it is within the reach of their own free will that some may choose to do so.
Another important concern is the lack of evidence supporting the addictive personality label and the possibility of stigma.
[2] In fact, continued use of this term in the absence of clear evidence could be damaging to the people who believe they have an addictive personality.