The most likely source to your addictive and destructive behaviors …

If I described someone as having a compelling and irresistible nature, you might initially think, “That’s someone I want to meet!”

But that description is very fitting for an element of a person’s temperament that is most likely the root source for addictive and destructive behaviors.

This element that takes normal and common behavioral traits in most people and makes them into near uncontrollable drivenness in others is called “compulsivity.”

A “compulsive person” is someone with behavior patterns governed by a compulsion. To understand this, let’s compare traits. Imagine that a basic behavioral trait is described as taking a leisurely stroll down a sidewalk. For the same trait to be compulsive, imagine strapping a jet engine to its back and blasting its way down a sidewalk! The trait is pushed by a powerful drivenness which even secular behavioral scientists admit cannot be healed except through divine intervention.

In my more than 30 years of counseling, it’s my clinical observation that compulsivity is the primary cause for addictions and destructive behavior among the clients I have treated who suffered from addiction. Even if compulsivity doesn’t manifest itself in an actual destructive addiction, it will dominate the life in driven behaviors.

For example, the Melancholy temperament has a temperament need for a daily unwind time. Other temperaments that don’t have this need often are clueless about (and misunderstand) why this daily unwind time is so important to the Melancholy, but it’s needed in this temperament for the person, to think, dream, and regenerate. Without this daily unwind time, the Melancholy can become frustrated and feel unorganized and disoriented. Now, for a Melancholy temperament that is compulsive, the need for a daily unwind time is necessary because it’s now a compulsive need. Without adequately meeting this need each day, the compulsive Melancholy feels stressed and becomes very anxious, impatient, overwhelmed, and angry. Their capacity to cope with people, places, and things plummets without this needed time for themselves.

A person who has a compulsive temperament or temperament blend will always be compulsive unless God heals their drivenness. If He doesn’t, compulsive people can learn to gain control over their compulsivity by working with a clinical therapist skilled in working with compulsive temperaments. An integration of Temperament Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy has been highly effective in helping people understand what compulsion is, how it affects their lives, and how they can gain self-control to live a life free of addiction and destructive behaviors.

Scotty