Traits of addictive personality

1. Adrianne Hanusek

2.  What is addiction? What is personality?
 Does personality cause addiction or does addiction cause
personality?
 Stages of addiction
 Risk Factors and Personality Traits
 Addictive Personality – A myth?

3.  Basically, addiction is an attempt to control and fulfill a desire for
happiness
 An illness that undergoes continuous development from a
beginning to end
 An emotional relationship through which addicts try to meet their
needs for intimacy
 Pathological love and trust relationship

4.  Alcohol, Tobacco, Illicit Drugs
 Food
 Gambling
 Sex
 Exercising
 Internet/video Gaming?
 Work

5.  Loss of loved one
 Loss of status
 Loss of ideals or dreams
 Loss of friendships
 Facing new social challenges or social
isolation
 Family problems – childhood and adult

6.  Drug Use/Experimentation
 Misuse of Drugs/Abuse of Drugs
 Drug Addiction and Dependency

7. • The combination of
characteristics or
qualities that form
an individuals
distinctive character
• Big Five Personality
Traits

8.  Addictive personality gets created from the
illness of addiction and represents a change
resulting from the addictive process that takes
place within a person. This personality does
not exist prior to the illness of addiction, nor
does it represent a predisposition to addiction;
rather, it emerges from the addictive process –
Craig Nakken

9.  A particular set of personality traits that make
an individual predisposed to addiction
 Big Five Personality Traits
 What influences personality traits
 Biological
 Environmental

10.  Personality
 Impulsivity
 risk taking
 stress responsivity
 extraversion
 Psychiatric Disorders
 Depression
 Anxiety
 antisocial personality
disorder
 Attention
deficit/hyperactivity
disorder

12. • evidence shows some correlation between
personality traits and addiction, but not strong
enough to be definitive – it varies
 Predisposition to addiction is more accurately
a combination of biological, psychological and
environmental factors
 Debatable - there are many theories