Why do Intelligent People Struggle with Addiction?

Yes, Intelligent People Do Get Addicted

“You should know better”

If you have struggled with an addiction issue, you’ve probably heard someone say this to you. It implies that smart people shouldn’t fall into this trap. I suppose this recognition of intelligence is a kind of back-handed compliment, but the statement is based on a misunderstanding.

Intelligence doesn’t seem to protect us from the danger of alcohol or recreational drug addiction. Our curious minds may even put us at a higher risk of at least experimenting with these substances .

We are Only Partially Rational Beings

People tend to equate intelligence with our ability to be rational and solve problems. Of course, there are other types of intelligence such as emotional, physical and musical.

Given the amount of effort that has gone into promoting the dangers of drugs, it is hard to understand how any rational person could fall into this trap. But this assumes that rationality is what dominates our mind. In fact, this is only a part of what we are. As the poet Walt Whitman famously said, “we are multitudes“.

Our Inner Committee

It might be helpful to think of our mind as being more like a committee than a unified voice. Each member of this committee will have their own agenda, but we can break them down into different factions. Let’s imagine just for simplicity that there are nine members. Three of them are governed by rationality, three of them by societal expectations, and three by pleasure and pain. This is similar to Sigmund Freud’s idea of the inner triad of ego, superego, and Id (an idea that can be traced back even further to Plato and his reason, spirit, appetite).

Even if we manage to convince the rational members of the committee to change, they are still going to be in a minority of three against six. But as our addiction continues, we start to experience negative consequences such as a damaged reputation, losing our job, losing our relationship etc. This can be enough to win over the second three members of the committee (those influenced by societal expectations). Our brain then has a majority favoring change, and it is usually at this point that we become willing to seek help.

The problem is though that those three members that are controlled by negative consequences can lose their motivation when things improve. They stop being afraid. These three are very important for getting us to begin our journey, but they may not be on board once it gets going and our life improves.

This is where the other three members of the committee end up being real heroes. They are not governed by rationality, and the threat of negative consequences may not be enough to control them. They are not interested in promises of jam tomorrow, they want to feel good now. This is why so much focus on recovery is on making our life better. We need things like peace and joy, not as a bonus, but as the thing that keeps us going. If our life improves we convince the committee members governed by pleasure and pain to endorse recovery. 

So, if by intelligence we mean rational, this is often not enough to ensure change. We need to win over those less rational aspects of ourselves such as the more experiential yearning to feel comfortable in life. Instead of being directed by fear (which only works when something is haunting us), we start to be moved by passion. Only then are we in a position where our inner committee works together in harmony. We can eventually end up with all nine members on board.

Intelligence Could Be Part of the Problem

Intelligence not only can fail to protect us from falling into addiction, it could also be part of the problem. It may mean that we are able to create more convincing arguments to condone substance abuse. Our faith in our own intelligence can give us a false sense of security.

There is also some evidence to suggest that intelligent people can be more likely to suffer from mental health conditions like anxiety and mood disorders .They are prone to overthinking. This can lead to self-medication with drugs like alcohol which only worsen symptoms in the long-term.

Despite the stereotypes, addiction affects people of all levels of intelligence. Falling into this trap doesn’t mean that we lack intelligence. What it does mean is that we now need to apply our bright minds to breaking free of addiction.