What is Behavioral Addiction?
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The question of whether a behavior can be considered an addiction is being talked about and studied more than ever by the scientific community. In the practice and research of psychology, behavioral addiction(s) are even entering into the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition. Known as the DSM-5, the most recent edition of the diagnostic manual was published in 2013, and includes compulsive gambling in the non-substance related addictive behavior category. Gambling is the only non-substance related addictive behavior listed.
The other behaviors that are thought of when the term behavioral addiction is considered, are: Internet addiction, compulsive eating, kleptomania, compulsive buying, skin picking, and sex addiction. The newest behavior that is being considered for the Behavioral Addiction model is the compulsive use of social media.
Up until current time, these behaviors were thought of as impulse control problems. Impulse control is related to a failure of exercising self-control over emotions and behaviors. What separates impulse control behavior from addictive behavior is the feelings people experience with the addictive behavior. Those feelings include a sense of relief and pleasure when experiencing the behavior. A feeling of gratification and temporary release of tension creates the desire for repetition. Impulse control is still a piece of the behavioral addictive puzzle, just not all of it.
How are behavioral addictions and substance use disorders similar?
Substance Use Disorder is the current term in the DSM-5 for alcohol and other drug use, abuse, or addiction. One of the hallmarks of alcoholism, for example, is the failure to resist the impulse or urge to drink alcohol. Feelings of euphoria reward the behavior, and the behavior becomes a repeating pattern despite adverse consequences to the person or others. The repetitive behavior interferes with functioning in other parts of their life, i.e., work, family, finances, social.
The similarity is that both behavioral addictions and substance related addictions are experienced as strong urges that the person fails to resist, gradually becoming a recurrent pattern. The behavior, as noted above, is rewarded with a sought after feeling of pleasure and relief. The repetitive behavior and pleasure is called ego-syntonic. That is, the pleasure is gratifying encouraging pattern development. Overtime the behavior can become ego-dystonic. That is, the feeling fails to gratify, and the behavior becomes a compulsive habit.
Just as with alcohol addiction, behavioral addictions, such as, sex or internet addiction can devastate the lives of addicts. Families are broken, thousands of dollars spent in its pursuit, and hours and hours of time lost from work productivity. The refusal to simply turn off the cell phone has become a common complaint in couples counseling. The compulsion to return text after text, compulsively track your facebook page, or to play another few hours of your favorite game is reaching huge proportions around the world.
A 2011 statement by the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) defines addiction as a “. . . primary, chronic disease of brain reward, motivation, memory and related circuitry.”
Many biological processes are connected to both substance and behavioral addiction, including: The amygdala related to sensing, nucleus accumbens, gene mechanisms, and neural circuitry involved in natural rewards, motivation, and learning.
If you are interested in this topic, search the web, or wait for my article. It is an important issue and one I have written about before. My 2006 article on Sex and Love Addiction can be found on the blog Sanctuary for the Abused.