The addictive personality

The term addictive personality needs to be retired permanently from use by the alcohol and drug (AOD) treatment field. The term engenders confusion and misunderstanding and undermines our ability to help individuals with AOD problems. This essay will: (1) identify assumptions in the literature regarding the addictive personality, (2) offer assertions that challenge these assumptions, (3) examine each assumption individually and illustrate why the assertive challenge is justified, and (4) discuss the potentially negative consequences of continued use of the term and the conditions that may have enabled this situation to develop. The term addictive personality has been variously defined and interpreted over the years, leading to the following assumptions:  Individuals who develop an addiction have an addictive personality that precedes and propels the development of the addiction, and this addictive personality is characterized by, among other things, difficulty in delaying gratification, a tendency toward sensation seeking, an antisocial personality, and a valuing of nonconformity.  Individuals with an addictive personality have predictable thought processes and behavior patterns such as preoccupation with drugs, compulsive drug use, use despite negative consequences, and choosing drug use over other important activities.  Individuals with an addictive personality can be expected to turn to other drugs or compulsive behavior during and/or after treatment as a result of their personality dynamics. These assumptions have a negative impact at three levels: they enable and reinforce the pathologizing, stigmatizing, marginalization, and “homogenizing” of individuals diagnosed with AOD problems who represent a heterogeneous, not a homogeneous, population; they result in poor clinical practice among medical, mental health, and social service providers by positing and using a pseudodiagnostic judgment which is not empirically informed; and they contribute to reduced self-efficacy among addicted people themselves who are already separated from other people with health problems by virtue