THE TRUTH ABOUT ADDICTIVE PERSONALITIES

Most chronic 'addicts' (especially people with addictive personalities who tend to go from addiction to addiction) have two things in common. The first is that they were likely raised in dysfunctional family environments where their need for 'connection' were not properly met. There was inevitably a lack of patience and supportive discipline.

As we grow up, our family dynamic tends to mould us. The voices of our parents tend to become 'stuck' in our head and we tend to replay them over and over without even realising it. During a child's development, the more sophisticated parts of the brain like the prefrontal cortex and suborbital cortex are still developing. They're soaking up the environment around them and cementing it into their brain where it stays stored and mostly stuck. Then once its stuck in there, we carry it around with us as grown ups. If this part of the brain does not develop well as a child, we tend to be more controlled by the inner, primitive parts of the brain like the amygdala which operates purely on survival instinct. The amygdala has no patience, no self control and just wants to feel good right now no matter what the consequence.

Children exposed to a dysfunctional environment who go on to replicate those interactions will inevitably have difficulty forming healthy connections with people as an adult. They have not learned healthy personal boundaries and are inevitably prone to things like co dependency. They are likely to take things too personally, have difficulty functioning well in group environments (either because they try to control them too much or because they shy away from them) and are likely to either become psychologically manipulative (or even down right abusive) or be subjected to poor treatment by others. As a result, their needs for healthy connection with others is not met and they live every day with the quiet pain of feeling disconnected from the society around them. The role the addictive behaviour plays therefor, is to release dopamine from the brain (irrespective of whether any chemicals go into the body or not). And what that dopamine does, is to numb that pain by providing a substitute for this connection.

Find out exactly what the two main predictors of an addictive personality are, where it comes from and how to work through your addictive personality, overcome the addictiveness and live a happier, healthier life by reading this book.

Dettagli