Substance abuse and dependence (alcoholism, drug dependency) is only one form of reoccurring and self-defeating pattern of misbehavior. People are addicted to all kinds of things: gambling, shopping, the Web, careless and life-endangering pursuits. Adrenaline junkies abound.

The connection in between persistent anxiety, pathological narcissism, depression, obsessive-compulsive characteristics and alcohol addiction and drug abuse is well established and common in medical practice.

However not all narcissists, compulsives, depressives, and nervous people rely on the bottle or the needle.

Regular claims of finding a gene complex responsible for alcoholism have actually been consistently cast in doubt. In 1993, Berman and Noble suggested that addicting and negligent behaviors are mere emergent phenomena and might be linked to other, more fundamental traits, such as novelty looking for or danger taking.

Psychopaths (patients with Antisocial Personality Disorder) have both qualities in ample amounts. Still, only a minimal minority of alcoholics and drug addicts are psychopaths.

What has been identified is that most addicts are narcisstic in character. Dependencies serve his purpose. They position him above the laws and pressures of the mundane and far from the embarrassing and sobering demands of truth. They render him the focal point – but likewise put him in “splendid seclusion” from the infuriating and inferior crowd.

Such compulsory and wild pursuits supply a mental exoskeleton. They are a substitute to quotidian existence. They manage the narcissist with a program, with timetables, goals, and synthetic accomplishments.

The narcissist – the adrenaline addict – feels that he is in control, alert, thrilled, and important. He does not regard his condition as reliance.

The narcissist firmly believes that he is in charge of his addiction that he can stop at will and on short notice.

Substance abuse and reliance (alcoholism, drug dependency) is only one form of recurrent and self-defeating pattern of misbehavior. Psychopaths (clients with Antisocial Personality Condition) have both qualities in adequate amounts. What has been identified is that a lot of addicts are narcisstic in personality. Addictions serve his purpose.