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Addictive Personality Disorder
I actually didn't find out about my addictive personality disorder in any of the normal ways. A lot of the time, people with addictive personalities are very good at self deception, and I was certainly no exception to this rule. Every time I would come down with another addiction or relapse into an old habit, I would have some excuse for myself. I would tell myself it was no big deal or that I was only using it this once, knowing all along that in fact my addictive behavior would continue. A lot of my friends wanted me to go in for addiction treatment and counseling, but I was having none of it. I went back to my old ways, forcing myself to believe That there was nothing wrong.
It was actually a free personality test that cued me into the problems. It was meant as a psychological self-evaluation. I found it accidentally when I was wasting time by taking Internet personality tests. At first, I took it as a joke, but with every question I answered I realized that there was something wrong. It was one thing when my friends told me that I have an addictive personality disorder. People close to you care about about you, they worry about you, and sometimes they go a little bit too far in their concern. I could easily convince myself that they were overstating the problem. When an online personality test told me that I had an addictive personality disorder, however, that gave me cause to think. I knew that the test was objective and it wasn't being swayed by concern for me. After all, it was just an automated quiz! I figured that maybe it was time to go in and see what a psychiatrist had to say about things.
When the psychiatrist told me that I had an addictive personality disorder, I can't say I was surprised. It was weird, but I had spent so much time denying things that, once I started to admit that I had a problem, my resolve cracked. I was ready to commit to treatments without a moment's delay, and the shrink was all too happy to recommend a good treatment facility. Apparently, with severe addictive personality disorders, sometimes the best course of action is to isolate yourself from general society for a few weeks. They give you time to recuperate and reflect on the problems you have been facing. After that, you can gradually re-immerse yourself back into the normal wider community. An addictive personality disorder never goes away, but with counseling you can learn to control it. Nowadays, I know when I am about to do something stupid and succumb to my addictive personality. I've learned self-control, and that is worth a lot.
Summary
Addictive personality disorder is a problem for many people. There are treatment options available to help change behaviors and start using self control to end repeated harmful actions. As with all problems, the first step is to recognize a problem exists and seek help.
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