The BBC posed the question is an addictive personality real, consulting professors of psychology and psychiatry, and makes bold statements like “Many psychiatrists and addiction experts say there is no scientific evidence supporting the idea that there is such a thing as an addictive personality” or that “some people are more prone to developing an addiction.” They say that addiction is a ‘nuanced’ problem, which it certainly is, but their central assertion is a bold and wrong claim. Around 60% of the explained variance in developing an addiction problem is genetic, as evidenced by twin studies, the same methodology used to determine the genetic influence in heart disease or cancer.
Furthermore, research is abundant on the associations between different compulsive and addictive behaviours, cross addictions as we know them, which is much more like what people imagine when they use the term ‘addictive personality’ than the taxonomy psychologists used when they created the five-factor personality model.
The second proposition of the article is that identifying as an addict or having an addictive personality reduces someone’s self-control over their addiction. Yet, the *most* successful long-term recovery comes from people in 12-step self-help groups who *specifically* identify as addicts and not having control! Given that 12-step facilitation was the subject of the most extensive psychology study yet undertaken ( project MATCH ), it seems quite a bold claim.
Undoubtedly, some interesting subjects are discussed in the article, but these conclusions and omissions should be corrected.
