The Behavioral Addictions

The Behavioral Addictions is the first American Psychiatric Publishing title to explore the diagnosis and treatment of patients who suffer from behavioral addictions, extreme forms of which share specific characteristics with severe forms of substance use disorders. These characteristics include tolerance (the need to use the substance or perform the troublesome behavior at higher doses, or more and more frequently, in order to achieve the same effect); withdrawal (feelings of restlessness, irritability, and discontent following abrupt discontinuation of the substance or the behavior); obsessive thinking and planning that block out anything other than obtaining or engaging in the addictive agent or behavior; and accompanying external consequences in related to finances, health, interpersonal relationships, legal affairs, etc. Although not all behavioral addictions are currently recognized as such by DSM-5, both substances and behaviors can hijack a person's pleasure-and-reward brain circuitry, causing great suffering.

ContributorsPrefaceVideo GuidePart I: IntroductionChapter 1. Helping People Behave Themselves: Identifying and Treating Behavioral Addictions Chapter 2. Forensic Implications of Behavioral AddictionsPart II: The Behavioral AddictionsChapter 3. Problematic Exercise: A Case of Alien FeetChapter 4. Food Addiction: Sugar HighChapter 5. Gambling DisorderChapter 6. Internet Gaming Disorder: Virtual or Real?Chapter 7. Internet Addiction: The Case of Henry, the "Reluctant Hermit"Chapter 8. Texting and E-mail Problem UseChapter 9. Kleptomania: To Steal or Not to Steal -- That Is the QuestionChapter 10. Sex Addiction: The Fire Down BelowChapter 11. Love Addiction: What's Love Got to Do With It?Chapter 12. Shopping Addiction: If the Shoe Fits, Buy It in Every Color!Chapter 13. Tanning Addiction: When Orange Is the New BronzeChapter 14. Work Addiction: Taking Care of BusinessIndex