FDS Insight Magazine Aug - Oct 2022

10 helplessness about managing their use. It’s a shorthand way of saying, ‘I can’t do anything about it’. Is there any truth to the addictive personality idea? We now know some people who have problems with alcohol or other drugs can return to regular use. And most people experience problems with only one drug, using other drugs in non-problematic ways. Both of these things contradict the addictive personality theory because they suggest there is a level of control. But there are some traits that are more likely to be found in people who have problems with alcohol or other drugs. There are two main personality clusters that seem to increase risk of problems: risk-taking or impulsiveness, and sad or anxious temperaments. Or a combination of both. Both risk takers and high achievers are more likely to develop alcohol or drug problems. The common thread to these seemingly unrelated traits is difficulty regulating emotions. Drug and alcohol dependence are more common among those who struggle to regulate their emotions. Shutterstock This partly explains why people who have experienced trauma have a higher risk of developing alcohol or other drug problems, and why there are higher rates of dependence among people with ADHD. Both these conditions increase activity in the limbic system, the part of the brain responsible for emotional reactions, and decrease activity in parts of the prefrontal cortex, the logical part of the brain that helps regulate emotional responses. There is some genetic component to personality – between 30% and 60%. And there is also some genetic component to the development of alcohol or other drug problems – 45%- 65% for alcohol. But inherited personality traits are a result of more than 700 possible gene interactions and there’s no single ‘personality gene’ that leads to alcohol or other drug problems. A better explanation We now know the development of alcohol and other drug problems is influenced by a number of factors. Many US troops in Vietnam in the 1970s developed a dependence on heroin and used it regularly while they were in Vietnam, but they stopped quickly once they returned home. So it’s not just the drug itself or the person using it, but also where it’s being used. Some drug experts refer to this as ‘drug, set and setting’: the qualities of drug itself, individual traits, and the context in which the drugs are used.