Generally, psychological addictions aren't classified as a problem until they interfere with life. If a person can hold a job and maintain healthy relationships, they probably don't have an out of control addiction. One bit of good news is that a classic sign of addiction is an inability to recognize that one is addicted. It's one of the things that makes recovery so difficult. Since most of the people responding see some level of an addictive personality, there's a good chance there's nothing to worry about.

 

I was trying to find a good medical definition for psychological addictions, but couldn't find anything consistent. It's even harder finding anything from established medical sites. I tried following one of the links from Wikipedia to a site that was downright illiterate and useless. Substance addiction definitions are very clear and consistent. There's a long history on the physical dependencies caused by drugs. Psychological addictions are less straightforward as an illness. Whenever I see sites classifying them into subject categories, I know they're on the wrong track. The obsessiveness is in the person, not caused by the subject of the obsession. If there can be a cure for psychological addictions, it will be in stopping the obsession, not in attacking the object of obsession. Religion has often been cited as a means to cure such addictions, but usually just transfers the addiction from the original obsession to religion.  It's less a cure than a change to a socially acceptable medium.

 

A creative passion is very different from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). An OCD condition is very ritualistic, doing the same things over and over. Creative impulses are anything but repetitive. OCD is an extreme condition, but there has to be varying levels of that condition before having something bad enough to require medical attention. Lucky rituals would be an example. Eating and going to bed at set times could be another example. I just took a retirement course and they emphasized the need to have something to do in retirement because many people cannot adjust to the lack of structure in their lives when they no longer have to go to work for set periods of time. A former boss of mine ran into that problem.  He handled the first couple months of retirement fine and was suddenly confronted by the reality that he woke up the same time he did when he was working, but now he had no place to go when awake. A lot of groups rely on rituals that members find comforting.

 

It is interesting that people with creative passions seem to largely tackle any project with great intensity for long periods of time. Unlike real addictions, where usage increases at a higher and higher level until the person has either overdosed, been forced into rehabilitation, or quit the addiction out of sheer desperation, the kind of "addictive" personality I have tends to shift from interest to interest. After delving into one passion for a many months, or even years, something else engages my attention and I fixate on that. I can go back to the other passion at a lower level without being "hooked" again on it. That's very different from a former alcoholic or smoker--one drink or cigarette can start the pattern of abuse again.

 

It would seem that some degree of obsessive passion is almost necessary to create something significant. The time and effort needed to master a craft and create something new out of it would necessitate some degree of obsessive behavior or passionate focus or whatever it ought to be called. A person, who lacks focus, is going to have a hard time creating anything of significance. Having that ability to focus on something for long periods of time doesn't guarantee being an artistic genius, but it does seem as if it might be a prerequisite.

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