Obesity, rudeness and alcoholism
Mike M. writes:
“have you given any thought to obesity/overeating as a form of addiction? A few people in my life have had a real problem with this, and it affected their personalities in narcissistic ways similar to what you describe. Moreover, the disease is eventually fatal unless the afflicted person finds a path to remission/recovery. The techniques used in Overeaters Anonymous are based on Alcoholics Anonymous because of the similarities.
I think it might be jumping to conclusions to assume addiction is necessarily the explanation for rude behavior. Sometimes just youth and immaturity could be a decent explanation. Or a very elderly person who’s started to lose it. In the most extreme cases I would tend to agree with you however, especially in adults in the age 30-60 range who would be expected to be more aware and considerate.”
Mike, I tend towards broad (over?) generalizations, then back off from those when I get into details. You are correct that youth and immaturity are the cause of some rude behavior; OTOH, children of alcoholics tend towards immaturity and addicts themselves do not emotionally grow up–they get “stuck” in their emotional age the day addiction is triggered. Children of addicts, to broadly generalize, grow emotionally at about half the rate of children of non-addicts who do not develop addiction.
And yes, the elderly who lose it can become rude. OTOH (again), I’ve witnessed a number of situations in which the elderly person seems to have lost it, only to find later they were long time alcoholics.
Yes, eating is a compulsive disorder, I think rooted in a genetic background in which ancestors never knew where their next meal was coming from. However (again!), a number of overeaters in program have told me they think as many as 50% of their members are also alcohol/other drug addicts.