5 August 2020
Before diving into the causes of addictive behaviours, let’s contextualize the opinions in this blog. When queried, the University of Guelph’s library database, referencing “reasons for drug use,” identified 1,663,210 sources. These were journals, books, individual research findings, and more. The point is, this topic, like most discussed in these blogs, is vast and evolving. What I offer is one perspective. As our 12-step associates say, take what you like and leave the rest.
In Why did I use? I, the seven categories of use were listed (genetic predisposition, low entry cost, cultural, incremental, personality, loneliness & self-medication) and cultural causes examined—this week examines incremental causation. Incremental reliance on addictive behaviours means ramping up. You start, when you’re feeling alone, by eating a chocolate bar and wind up needing full bags of cookies to numb your feelings as time and tolerance grind on.
One story, told by dozens of people in recovery, is about the first time they got high. They began that night full of self-consciousness, low self-esteem, and no confidence. They got high and turned into the most popular girl/guy at the high school. They danced with everyone they could, they were liked and seemed fun to be with, and they had a new friend group who often got high. Fast forward a varying number of years, and that school dancer is sitting alone with his DOC (drug of choice), struggling to attain a high with ten times the original dosage to much lesser effect. No friend group, no family, no job…that’s the incremental story.
Per the caveat above, what I don’t like, about identifying incremental usage as causal, is that it masks the more fundamental cause beneath the ramping up. Why was that dancer shy, frightened, and lacking in confidence? In big-picture terms, she gravitated toward those behaviours/characteristics through the interactions of genetic predispositions and environmental factors resulting in observable attributes (phenotypes).
In personality psychology, OCEAN is an acronym for the Big 5 (Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism). We’re all born with predispositions toward scoring high, low, or middling on a scale within each of these traits. For example, mix low A with high N, and the shy dancer is back. Combine this with minimal family or peer support, and you now know why being the most popular dancer was a life-changing factor for that soul. And why she kept chasing that high with incrementally larger hits.
Dan Chalykoff facilitates two weekly voluntary group meetings, as well as private appointments, for SMART-based counselling services at danchalykoff@hotmail.com
Well took an on line OCEAN test fun all high and one low neurotic. I guess I’m all in then.
Maybe it was just a marketing thing to get me to buy their books.
Hi Allan, and thanks for reading the blog and exploring the ideas. First, I will stress that the Big 5 (OCEAN) traits are one part of our personalities i.e., traits do not necessarily equal fate! The personality theory that seems most realistic is McAdams’ (2015) in which he divides personality into three layers. The Actor consists of the traits, the environmental response, and the resulting observable behaviours. The Agent is your chosen values and goals and the Author is the life story each of us creates to bring meaning and cohesion to our lives. In other words, we have significant latitude in the outcomes of our lives based on our own choices and actions. Thanks for posting, Allan.
“Masking the fundamental cause” really spoke to me in this blog, Dan. If nothing else, this is the one thing that I’ve learned about dependency/addiction, that there’s a reason why the individual chooses/needs to continue on this path (other than the pleasure-high from the substance). It’s identifying the reason that becomes the challenge. And with that, it’s acceptance of the “reason”. For some, this is a difficult process, especially when the individual sees himself as “the best dancer” without realizing the starting point of the “dance”.
Thanks for the feedback, Trish. All I can say is that recognizing weakness (perversely) requires psychic strength. That is, one has to be strong enough to face one’s own weaknesses or self-destructive behaviours. That process requires patience (from loved ones) that is often depleted before those good things can happen. And other times, the patience is found and healing begins. If the blog is raising those questions, it’s working. Thanks for that.