Chunk #53 — Issues Not Related To Substances — Should Gambling Disorder and Other Putative Behavioral “Addictions” Be Added to the Substance Disorders Chapter? — Other non-substance-related disorders
The work group consulted outside experts and reviewed literature on other potential non-substance-related behaviors (e.g., Internet gaming and shopping). This included over 200 publications on Internet gaming addiction, mostly Asian case reports or series of young males. Despite the large literature (204–207), no standard diagnostic criteria and only limited data were available on prevalence, course, or brain functioning. Therefore, research is needed to ascertain the unique characteristics of the disorder, the cross-cultural reliability and validity data of diagnostic criteria, prevalence in representative samples, natural history, and potentially associated biological factors (196). Research on other behavioral addictions is even more preliminary. Disorders involving sexual behaviors or eating were handled by other work groups.
