Behavioral addiction

Behavioral addiction is a form of addiction which does not rely on drugs or alcohol. Increasingly referred to as process addiction or non-substance-related addiction ) behavioral addiction includes a compulsion to repeatedly engage in an action until said action causes serious negative consequences to the person's physical, mental, social, and/or financial well-being.   One sign that a behavior has become addictive is if it persists despite these consequences.

The type of behaviors which some people have identified as being addictive include gambling, food, sex, pornography, computers, video games, internet, work, exercise, spiritual obsession (as opposed to religious devotion), pain, cutting and shopping.

When analyzing the addiction to food for example, a published study in 2009 from The Scripps Research Institute have shown for the first time that the same molecular mechanisms that drive people into drug addiction are behind the compulsion to overeat, pushing people into obesity. In this study, scientists focused on a particular receptor in the brain known to play an important role in vulnerability to drug addiction -- the dopamine D2 receptor. The D2 receptor responds to dopamine, a neurotransmitter that is released in the brain by pleasurable experiences like food or sex or drugs like cocaine.

Behavioral addictions has been proposed as a new class in DSM-5, but the only category included is gambling addiction. Internet addiction and sex addiction are included in the appendix.

The term soft addiction was coined by Judith Sewell Wright to describe activities, moods or ways of being, avoidances, and things-edible and consumable but which do not pose a grave health disease risk - rather, they have the most effect on personal time and productivity. These behaviors were profiled in a 2007 ABC News story titled Bad Habits.

DSM / "Impulse control disorder"
There is disagreement as to the exact nature of behavioral addiction or dependency. However, the biopsychosocial model is generally accepted in scientific fields as the most comprehensive model for addiction. Historically, addiction has been defined with regard solely to psychoactive substances (for example alcohol, tobacco and other drugs) which cross the blood-brain barrier once ingested, temporarily altering the chemical milieu of the brain. However, "studies on phenomenology, family history, and response to treatment suggest that intermittent explosive disorder, kleptomania, problem gambling, pyromania, and trichotillomania may be related to mood disorders, alcohol and psychoactive substance abuse, and anxiety disorders (especially obsessive–compulsive disorder)."

In the case of pathological gambling, for example, the American Psychological Association classifies the condition as an impulse control disorder and not an addiction.

Research
It is estimated that at least 90% of Americans have at least one form of soft addiction in their lives. Nadine Kaslow, PhD, professor of psychology and behavioral sciences at Emory University in Atlanta, has commented on the issue, saying that while it is healthy to relieve stress with behaviors like drinking coffee and watching television, when they become habitual they become problematic to one's health and happiness.

Cyber-psychologist Kimberly Young, director of the Center for Online Addiction, has addressed Internet addiction, one of the most common types of "soft addictions". Young has likened excessive Internet use to pathological gambling.

Research around addictions and social media sites has been growing. The Retrevo Gadgetology company recently came out with research suggesting that there is an obsessiveness to the way people are checking their pages.