Abstract
Several patterns of maladaptive behaviors share their clinical features with those of substance use disorders such as tolerance, withdrawal, repeated unsuccessful attempts to cut back or quit, and interference in major areas of life function, thus gaining the name of “behavioral addictions”. Several studies showed that behavioral addictions and substance addictions share a similar pattern of brain activation during symptom provocation tasks, suggesting a common neurobiological substrate. However, despite the growing knowledge on the neurobiological underpinnings of behavioral addictions, treatment of these conditions is still controversial. Research Domain Criteria project would help in identifying circuitry involved in complex behavioral syndromes such as addiction either to substances or not-substances. The purpose of this review is to summarize current knowledge of the different pharmacological approaches to behavioral addictions. In particular, we will focus on the pharmacological treatment of pathological gambling, internet addiction and hypersexual disorder.
Keywords: Addictions, hypersexual disorder, maladaptive behaviors, pathological gambling.
Current Psychopharmacology
Title:Pharmacological Treatments for Behavioral Addictions: From Behavioral Dimensions to the Research Domain Criteria Based Target
Volume: 2
Author(s): Stefano Pallanti, Giacomo Grassi, Tommaso Tofani and Silvia Spitoni
Affiliation:
Keywords: Addictions, hypersexual disorder, maladaptive behaviors, pathological gambling.
Abstract: Several patterns of maladaptive behaviors share their clinical features with those of substance use disorders such as tolerance, withdrawal, repeated unsuccessful attempts to cut back or quit, and interference in major areas of life function, thus gaining the name of “behavioral addictions”. Several studies showed that behavioral addictions and substance addictions share a similar pattern of brain activation during symptom provocation tasks, suggesting a common neurobiological substrate. However, despite the growing knowledge on the neurobiological underpinnings of behavioral addictions, treatment of these conditions is still controversial. Research Domain Criteria project would help in identifying circuitry involved in complex behavioral syndromes such as addiction either to substances or not-substances. The purpose of this review is to summarize current knowledge of the different pharmacological approaches to behavioral addictions. In particular, we will focus on the pharmacological treatment of pathological gambling, internet addiction and hypersexual disorder.
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Cite this article as:
Pallanti Stefano, Grassi Giacomo, Tofani Tommaso and Spitoni Silvia, Pharmacological Treatments for Behavioral Addictions: From Behavioral Dimensions to the Research Domain Criteria Based Target, Current Psychopharmacology 2013; 2 (3) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/22115560113029990002
DOI https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/22115560113029990002 |
Print ISSN 2211-5560 |
Publisher Name Bentham Science Publisher |
Online ISSN 2211-5579 |
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