How Addiction Can Change Your Personality

Transcript:

How Addiction Changes Your Personality

Over time, drug and alcohol abuse alter critical brain activity and trick the brain into prioritizing the substance over everything else. Because the brain is consumed by drugs or alcohol, an individual’s personality drastically changes.

Personality Changes Include: 

• Secrecy
• Laziness
• Paranoia
• Selfishness
• Dishonesty
• Manipulation
• Impulsiveness
• Aggressiveness

Erratic behavior and negative changes in personality can have devastating effects on an individual’s overall well-being. Some of the damage it can cause include:

Impaired Relationships

Frequent mood swings, secretive behavior, and anger management issues often cause issues in the home and cause relationships to deteriorate.

Poor School/Work Performance

Loss of interest and the inability to focus results in poor school and work performance, often causing individuals to fail school or get fired from work.

Legal Trouble

Aggression and impulsiveness can often cause the addicted person to act erratically, take unnecessary risks, and break laws, resulting in legal trouble.