Addictive personalities

Torakx

Hi,
Not sure if this is in the right place, as I tend to default my behaviour curiosities to psychology.

I wanted to chat about addictive personalities with people who have some experience as an addict or working with.

I have recently watched a Russel Brand tv piece where he talks about and praises abstenance based recovery from addiction to substances.

I myself have what I often refer to as an addictive personality.
And since reading philosophy more lately, have come to wonder about the overall goal of abstenance.

I abstained from smoking for the first 3 months of last year.
I think I did this by having a clear vision of a goal i was motivated to achieve and was in a change in my everyday life.
However I cracked after 3 months, possibly because that vision got blurred and the college course that at first motivated me was just not enough to keep me interested, with the pace and content.
What I gues happened was all that mental energy i put to college was the same energy I put to smoking.

To digress some more...
I have been reading some of Nieztche's philosophy, where he writes about the will to power.
Everyone having a driving force not to just survive but to overcome obstacles and challenges in our lives and when we do that is what makes us happy.
So if i need to completely abstain from substances that I enjoy, doesn't that mean I have not conquered them?
It FEELS like to me that to conquer something I can also stand right next to it without fear or loss to myself. Completely at peace.
At least that would be my goal.

So I was hoping for some intellectual thoughts on abstenance and especially the long term views of people.
For me abstaining from one thing only means I will find another and so maybe I have not found the root of addiction and therefore cannot overcome that inherent need.

catallus

Your Russell Brand citation is ok as long as we are agreed that he is a millionaire who is very independent insofar as that he can seek expensive professional help when he wakes up one morning and decides he just wants to taste xyz again.

Everyone has an addictive personality; don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

When you say you "cracked" it seems to me that you mean you made a conscious decision.

Torakx

I don't follow any tv personalities or anything, it just happened to be where I heard someone talk about abstenance and how effective it was, which made me question it to myself.
I consider all people to be addicts in some form or another.
My personality however seems to draw me deeply into anything I do. Which is argueably great for work I am enjoying, but not so great for some other things.
Yes it was a concsious decision to have that first smoke again.
My inner thoughts were " Well I have been very good and doing so well, I deserve a treat". But apparently i can't just have a treat.
Also it's just not easy to stop doing something you enjoy and I wanted to find out the root of this or the many roots so I can learn more about myself and become even more self aware.
I have found that becoming more self aware has been the greatest and most powerfull means for my recovery from many issues. A long with a good diet which is irrelevant here I think(unless we go into addiction and blood sugar levels or dopamine , which I would happily discuss too)

catallus

"Self Aware" as in being awake? Or what?

Torakx

Aware of my actions and why think or do certain things. "awake" could also suit depending if you mean fullly conscious or awake to my inner thoughts and feelings I suppose.
Infact I sometimes suspect even having a reason that is incorrect can help to free me from things in my life that previously have controlled my behaviour.
Almost like a feeling of understanding releases me from it, or maybe more accurate would be from my own attachments?

Which if true creates even more questions.

dar100

catallus wrote: »

Your Russell Brand citation is ok as long as we are agreed that he is a millionaire who is very independent insofar as that he can seek expensive professional help when he wakes up one morning and decides he just wants to taste xyz again.

Everyone has an addictive personality; don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

When you say you "cracked" it seems to me that you mean you made a conscious decision.

I'm not aware of any research that supports the idea of "addictive personalities"