I don’t believe that there is one type of addictive personality but I know that the loss of control all addicts experience does lead to shame. Shame leads to isolation and the solution is community. Sharing our stories and supporting others in the process of recovery is the best way to not only break the addiction but rediscover the value of who we are as individuals.

Mark Lewis’s Biology of Desire is the book on my bedside table right now. I’m working through it slowly trying to digest his research on neuroplasticity but even without fully understanding the science behind his theories I know from my own experience that they are true.

As he brilliantly puts it

The facility for viewing one’s life as a narrative may be what’s missing in addiction… Addicts experience something breathtaking when they can stretch their vision of themselves from the immediate present back to the past that shaped them and forward to a future that’s attainable and satisfying… It feels like being the author and advocate of one’s own life. It feels like being real… The many addicts who end up quitting do so uniquely and inventively, through effort and insight. Thus quitting is best seen as further development, not “recovery” from a disease.

Breaking an addiction is very hard work but if the work is done consciously and creatively the rewards are amazing.

From Creative Recovery

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