User:GB.Sala/Behavioral addiction

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↵↵Behavioral addiction, process addiction, or non-substance-related disorder is a form of addiction that involves a compulsion to engage in a rewarding non-substance-related behavior – sometimes called a natural reward – despite any negative consequences to the person's physical, mental, social or financial well-being. In the reward system, a gene transcription factor known as ΔFosB has been identified as a necessary common factor involved in both behavioral and drug addictions, which are associated with the same set of neural adaptations.

Addiction canonically refers to substance abuse; however, the term's connotation has been expanded to include behaviors that may lead to a reward (such as gambling, eating, or shopping) since the 1990s.

Psychiatric and medical classifications
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) recognized behavioral addictions for the first time in DSM-5 with gambling disorder, formerly pathological gambling, as the only non-substance-related disorder classified under the chapter of "Substance-Related and Addictive Disorders". Internet gaming addiction was included in the appendix as a condition for further study. Although "addiction" is commonly used to describe repetitive harmful behavior in nonmedical settings, DSM-5 recommended the neutral term "disorder" instead of "addiction" under the clinical settings to avoid uncertain definition and potentially negative connotation.

Similar to the changes in DSM-5, the eleventh revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) introduced the category "Disorders due to substance use or addictive behaviours" based on the diagnostic framework of impaired control, repetitive harmful behavior, and continuation or escalation despite negative consequences. The new sub-category "Disorders due to addictive behaviours" included gambling disorder (formerly under the habit and impulse disorders), gaming disorder (a new diagnosis), and two residual categories (other specified and unspecified) to raise attention among clinicians and the public and to facilitate further research.

In 2019, the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) revised its definition of addiction including substance use and compulsive behaviors - "addiction is a treatable, chronic medical disease involving complex interactions among brain circuits, genetics, the environment, and an individual’s life experiences".

Other addictive behaviors which have received research attention but with insufficient or inconclusive evidence include pornography use disorder, compulsive buying disorder, social network use disorder, work addiction, exercise addiction, compulsive sexual behavior disorder, and food addiction.