What is the definition of "addiction"?

Despite the widespread use of the term, there is no consensus about the definition of addiction. Alcohol and other drugs usually spring to mind, however, new research on behavioral addictions, especially gambling, has led scientists and clinicians to re-think addiction. We now know that gambling and other activities that don’t require the ingestion of psychoactive substances can reliably shift subjective experience and affect brain chemistry in ways that are similar to substance abuse.⁽¹⁾ People with a severe gambling problem might experience “neuroadaptation,” that is, changes in their neural circuitry that help perpetuate the excessive behavior.⁽²⁾ The symptoms of withdrawal, experienced when the gambler attempts to quit, indicate that addiction to an activity like gambling can be as powerful as an addiction to drugs.

Our new understanding of behavioral addictions exposes one of the most prevalent myths about the addiction—that things—the drugs, alcohol, slot machines, the Internet—are inherently addictive. Rather, addiction results from the relationship between a vulnerable person and the object of addiction.⁽²⁾ The person’s vulnerabilities might include psychological problems (e.g., depression), a difficult or chaotic upbringing and life situation, and an inherited neurobiological predisposition.

Ironically, gambling disorders—not even recognized in the DSM until 1980—might hold the key to a greater understanding of addiction by offering scientists a view of addiction that is not confounded by substances like cocaine or liquor. One new paradigm suggests that substance use and behavioral disorders might be distinctive expressions of the same underlying addiction “syndrome.” Looking at the shared causes of addictive behaviors challenges researchers and clinicians alike to consider new ways of studying and treating pathological gambling and related addictive disorders.⁽³⁾

1. Holden, C. (2001). Behavioral addictions: Do they exist?Science, 294, 980-982.
2. Shaffer, H.J. (1999). What is addiction? A perspective.Retrieved April 5, 2007, from http://www.divisiononaddictions.org/html/whatisaddiction.htm.
3. Odegaard, S. S., Peller, A., & Shaffer, H. J. (2005). Addiction as syndrome. Paradigm, 9, 12-13, 22.