Aside from drugs and alcohol, how does somebody become a trainwreck?

Mental illness or childhood trauma

Spending too much time on DL.

Jesus

Codependent relationships with Momma

Aging. And sex addiction.

Failure to edit on Data Lounge before posting

I'm old school, so alcohol and drugs worked just fine for me.

Prolapse.

Chronic procrastination.

Mental illness. But usually goes hand-in-hand with drugs or alcohol used for self-medication.

I’ve heard gambling addiction when it’s serious will end you in a world of trouble.

r10 = Ippei Mizuhara

Another vote for mental illness. With an assist from a dysfunctional family, a handsy priest and/or other childhood trauma.

The Top Five stressors in life that can cause your life to go off track:

Death of a Loved One

Divorce or Separation (or a bad relationship)

Moving (depending upon the age of the person and location of the move)

Long-Term Illness

Job Loss (or any kind of significant financial loss)

This could be an interesting survey to ask on Family Feud.

Poor coping mechanisms and life skills, making someone unable to get through the things mentioned by R13.

Food - though that's usually a coping mechanism for a different trainwreck, then becomes a trainwreck itself. Drugs an alcohol too are often tied to something else, but can also be "freestanding" in that usage was really the result of other stressors - the person just liked to party and became addicted.

R13, I had all of those happen to me in the same year when I was in my late 20's. Worse time of my life but somehow I got through it. Now any big issues I have is a piece of cake compared to those days. But I have little time to care about people who whine about the little things.

Believing in BS, from religion, or a MLM scheme, or a cult.

sex addiction

Doing porn

Earrings

Caftans!

Are there really that many sex "addicts"?

I think the one that starts the whole spiral is financial mismanagement/getting to in debt. It entangles your entire life.

Beanie Babies

I witnessed a close friend, a highly accomplished writer, going off the rails at age 65, due to a sudden outbreak of mental illness, compounded by alcoholism. It was the most frightening thing I’ve ever experienced.

r26 what were his symptoms? Was it possibly Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome?

I have a fear of developing schizophrenia later in life.

An abusive relationship

He became delusional, paranoid, hyper-sexual, went on shopping sprees, became maniac depressive, and gradually slid into severe alcoholism , delirium tremendously level. He died a horrible death (house fire).

^delirium tremendous level.

Having a retarded child

Being fat

Being obsessed with Froy and Zane

^^Delirium Tremens level

unwanted pregnancy

You eat too many hostess products and become fat whore out of a wardrobe and job!

by being a pass around party bottom.

Bad breakup.

Using your friends up so there’s nobody there who cares when things get bad.

Joining a cult.

Refusing to admit you need help for your mental illness.

Refusing to take medication for your mental illness.

Doubling down on decisions/mistakes that had fucked up your life previously.

Obsessing over the past and not letting anything go, so you cannot grow and move forward with your life.

If you're bad with money, not developing better financial skills from existing tools.

Wallowing in self-pity or misery.

Marry/have kids too young.

In women, I’ve noticed those called “Moo” and/or “Oink” by their brothers lead trainwreck lives.

I’ve known three and each turned into an animal rights activist (Yay) and animal hoarder.

Spend all your time on DL pointing out tiepoes.