The Personality, Addiction and the Physics of Stigma and Stereotypes.

Twentieth century physics not only tells us that we succeed or fail together, but we succeed or fail because of each other! The idea that a personality is shaped largely by the subtle interplay between an individual's experiences and what others feel about those experiences is what I mean by "The Personality, Addiction and the Physics of Stigma and Stereotypes."

There are as many different kinds of addictions as there are people. The latent prints of an addicts insane behavior is identified only by looking at the person, and how he or she functions emotionally inside the experience itself. Twenty-first century addiction treatment professionals must move away from the rational one size-fits-all-disease-model, and look at the dynamics of the emotional-individual and the relational emotional event.

It is the nature of the emotionally stirring event, with its object, that attracts people to repeat it. It is not the individual addict, nor the drug itself: it is these relational events that should be defining the concept of addiction. The language must evolve! How long can a person take being kicked aside by a society that borne him, before he or she answers in desperation; addiction! Present in the addict's plight is a reflective violence from society. We are experiencing a social double bind. A society of schizophrenic symptoms that manifest itself, for those bullied by society, in the tortured Limbic System of an addict fighting for his or her life!

The Social Scientist, Erving Gofman defined Stigma as "... the process by which the reaction of others, spoils normal identity." The word Stigma has its etymology in the Greek word for Tattoo. Historically, tattoos were burned into the skin of criminals or slaves visibly identifying that they were less than human. Nothing need be so visible today, the power of Culture in our information age, through word of mouth and media is enough. Present day addicts or someone who may have gotten caught for a crime are identified as people who are not like the rest of us. The manner in which society treats these people is the same manner in which they will behave. For example, one is a thirty year old man who was just released from prison, and he or she must immediately present himself/herself to a parole/probation office. There are two types of officers; one may treat you as an asset, and feels you can be a productive member of society. The paradigm of the other officer is, you are an addict-criminal and you will never amount to anything. In each of these experiences one will react accordingly. These emotionally loaded experiences is enough to sway an individual where ever the wind may blow!