Do you have an addictive personality?

The topic of addictive personalities came up in a conversation the other day, which got me thinking.   Do I have one?  Sure I have my moments, food cravings for starters.    For as long I remember, I’ve had weeks where my   body experiences a sudden need to eat a specific type of food.   When this happens I can’t rest until I’ve had my fill of whatever it is that the taste buds are crying out for.   Then I have to go out and buy large quantities of that item for example  jam sponge pudding, custard, milk lollies, pineapple chunks, crème caramel,  banana sweets, banana whip (has to be bird’s eye) or banana bread/cake/muffin.  Once the craving starts I need a daily intake of the thing I’m fixated on.  This can carry on for weeks, then as quickly as the urge comes it goes. Now some say that the reason this happens is because the body has a  vitamin/mineral deficiency.  It therefore, responds by causing cravings for a food substance that contains the necessary elements.  This could be true as there does seem to be a theme to my cravings ie sugar, milk and bananas.  Then again, I don’t eat much fruit and have never experience cravings for oranges.   Some also say that cravings can be linked to pregnancy in conjunction with the vitamin/mineral deficiency.   I can assure you that in this instance it is not the case.  Besides, I do ingest healthy meals on a regular basis.   So is it obsessive behaviour?  Well I don’t get withdrawal symptoms if I can’t get my hands on a fix, I don’t alter my lifestyle to accommodate my cravings and I don’t mug old ladies for their bunch of bananas (have you seen the price of them recently)?  So no, I don’t think so.  

But then there’s the computer game.  I definitely get fixated.   I spent months trying to solve a stupid (but funny) pythonesque  game about pirates to the point I was dreaming of possible solutions. On waking, often in the middle of the night, I would have to get up and try them out.  It was an exhausting business, my social life waned and my dissertation went on hold.    In despair of ever getting any other work done and sick of trying to work out how to get the captain’s wooden leg off without him killing me, I resorted to a cheat magazine to finish the game.   Does this behaviour fall within the definition of an addictive personality?  Or is my hand to eye co-ordination crap and my ability to solve riddles rubbish?    Then there’s my love of high heels, shoe shopping and master chef.  Which I would justify as a desire to look in the eye of the person I’m talking to and a way to improve my cooking skills? Maybe I’m an addictive realist!  

The only thing I can think of that I do way too much of is drink and eat chocolate – but at least 80 of the population of Australia does the same thing.  That would mean that the majority of the country has an addiction problem and that can’t be right – or could it? Anyway to resolve the dilemma I decided to take a test off the internet, as we all know how reliable and well researched they are!!  The result was as follows:-

“You may have an addictive personality but you control it well” ….??????? 

So it seems that  I have a split personality.  Susan is a control freak whereas Suzie is just out of control.  I’m still not convinced, but at least it clears up one thing – why the voices in my head are arguing!