Why is Procrastination so Common in Addiction Recovery?

If you can wrap your brain around the fact that addiction recovery does not entail only the act of staying sober it may be easier to understand why procrastination is such a common problem among recovering addicts. Since a major part of addiction recovery is about healing the addictive thinking mind it kind of makes sense that procrastination as a character flaw would be so prevalent among recovering addicts.

What Is Procrastination

Procrastination is classified as a type of avoidance behavior. The reason for this avoidance behavior is thought to be a mechanism for dealing with anxiety. This avoidance behavior is one that back fires. In a procrastinators attempt to avoid stress and anxiety they are actually causing themselves more stress and anxiety than what was originally there.

A small degree of procrastination is thought to be normal. It is when procrastination starts to impede normal functioning that it becomes a problem. Procrastination should not be confused with laziness. It generally surrounds issues of anxiety, a sense of low self-worth and a self defeating mentality. It is also very common in procrastinators to see and impulse control problem as well as the need for instant gratification. This is the link between procrastination and addiction.

The Addictive Personality

Those who operate with an addictive belief system tend to develop an addictive personality. This personality develops as an impulse of protecting oneself against the pain and suffering caused by not measuring up to what they believe they, others and the world around them should be.

There are many traits that the addictive personality will possess. So although the every addict does not have an identical personality, they do share identical traits. It is their reaction to these traits that makes for different personality profiles.