The Truth About ‘Addictive Personalities’

What's your personality like? There are scientifically validated ways to learn more about yours (though they’re not perfect). But there are also plenty of descriptors that can lead people astray.One of these is the notion of an “addictive personality,” meaning a single profile of a person who’s at risk for developing an addiction. People often use this term to explain why someone overdoes it with alcohol or other substances, or with habits like shopping or gambling. Likewise, people sometimes claim they don’t have an addictive personality to justify why they feel they can imbibe, consume, or participate in certain acts without restraint..But experts say there’s actually no such thing as an addictive personality. “The idea that people can have a specific personality type that makes them prone to addiction has been around for a long time, but it’s not scientifically supported,” says Ryan Carpenter, a substance-use researcher and assistant professor of psychology at the University of Notre Dame.Despite decades of research on this issue, scientists haven’t been able to identify a personality type that reliably predicts whether someone will have problems with excessive use of alcohol or...