This thread has confined itself thus far, except in one passing ref, to substances and physical addictions ~ alcohol, certain narcotics or controlled substances, nicotine.

But what of *gambling*. A man I knew well [now dead] had been a lifelong heavy smoker when he managed, on serious medical advice, to give it up in late middle-age. He then became a compulsive *gambler*, lost all the money he had made in a long professional career, and left his wife destitute.

Gambling is an addiction of a non-physical, but still compulsive, nature. I wonder if this man's experience demonstrates that the concept of 'addictive personality' has perhaps some validity?

~Michael~