Addictive Personality
Recognising The Addictive Personality
Recognising The Addictive
Personality
There is a vast difference
between an individual that has an addictive personality and an individual that
will develop an addiction in their lifetime. However, as any professional
offering addiction counselling in London can verify, within the addicted
individuals that they work with there are common traits and common factors.
Being able to recognise the
signs of an addictive personality in yourself and the people you love is an
important first step in being proactive in seeking treatment and counselling.
Typically when thoughts, behaviours, ideations and fixations start to interfere
with your ability to enjoy life it is time to seek the services of a
professional providing addiction counselling in London.
Addiction or Focus?
One of the biggest issues
that people with an addictive personality face is that often their focus and
their single-minded pursuit of a goal is considered to be an asset, at least in
specific situations. When the object of the addiction or hyperfocus is sometime
that is positive, such as work, diet or exercise, it may be seen as a positive
character trait.
Then, as the individual's
world become more exclusive of other things besides their focus, it becomes
more of a concern. Before long that intense and controlled dieting and exercise
has become a food addiction or eating disorder or the attention to work has
become work addiction. The result is that the individual begins to lose their
balance in life as they simply want to do more and more of the addictive
behaviour and have less and less of a normal, healthy life.
Addictive Personality Traits
While not a diagnoses an
addiction counsellor in London will be able to identify any addictive
personality traits that may be present in a client. Most mental health
professionals agree that the traits associated with addictive personalities
include:
• Understanding their level of focus is unusual and
attempting to hide the extent of the behaviour from others, often by providing
excuses, rationalisations and lies.
• Inability to curb or stop the behaviour despite
understanding it is beginning to negatively impacting life
• Constant thoughts about the behaviour
• Depression or anxiety if they are unable to engage in the
behaviour
• Low self-esteem combined with high levels of stress
• Impulsive and poor decision making processes
• Prefer immediate gratification to delayed gratification
• Feel isolated, alienated and value being nonconformists
• Difficulty with interpersonal relationships
It is critical to understand
that there is a genetic component to addiction as well as the influence of both
culture and society. It is also important to remember that addiction can be
treated and managed and is not a defining part of an individual's personality.
Addiction Counselling in
London
At Philippe Jacquet &
Associates we specialise in providing addiction counselling in London for
clients of all ages and for all types of addiction recovery. For people that
may feel that they have an addictive personality or exhibit some of the traits
proactively seeking counselling can be the best insurance that an addiction
will not become an issue in life.
Our highly experienced,
accredited and professional addiction counsellors in London can help you in
developing effective coping mechanisms to address the early signs of addiction
or addictive behaviour you may be experiencing.
Posted by: Philippe Jacquet