Sophia Achab
University Hospitals of Geneva, Switzerland
Title: Features of Gambling disorder and Internet gaming disorder in the spectrum of Addictive disorders
Biography
Biography: Sophia Achab
Abstract
Emergent behavioral addictions (BAs) such as gambling disorder (GD) and internet use disorders (e.g., Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) have become common treatment-seeking motives and a flourishing field for research. Their similarities to substance use disorders (SUDs) have raised debate in the scientific community and among clinicians and resulted in the enlargement of the addictive spectrum to include addictions that do not require the intake of a psychoactive substance. This inclusion has sparked debate on addiction determinism and whether neurobiological processes could be involved in repetitive exposure to a substance, as well as in cognitions and behaviors. A core clinical addiction syndrome can be extracted by comparing recent diagnostic criteria for SUDs in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th edition; DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association, 2013) with those for the two considered BAs: GD and IGD. Clinical, psychological and neurobiological differences and similarities between BAs and SUDs are reviewed and discussed in the present work. Critical links are made between these scientific findings and recent DSM-5 criteria.