Читать книгу Overcoming Internet Addiction For Dummies - David N. Greenfield - Страница 11

There is some confusion about what causes an addiction; this confusion often occurs because of the physiological response of tolerance and withdrawal from drugs or alcohol. But what about gambling? With gambling, you aren’t ingesting anything, yet you see all the same markers and consequences of addiction, including an impact on social relationships and psychological functioning, as well as on work, legal issues, finances, health, or academic performance.

Gambling addiction (the official medical diagnosis is pathological gambling) is part of a group of addictions called process or behavioral addictions; the American Society of Addiction Medicine, in part, defines addiction as the use of a substance or behavior that causes negative and deleterious life consequences:

Addiction is characterized by inability to consistently abstain, impairment in behavioral control, craving, diminished recognition of significant problems with one’s behaviors and interpersonal relationships, and a dysfunctional emotional response. Like other chronic diseases, addiction often involves cycles of relapse and remission.

The complex process of addiction almost always involves disruption of reward patterns, motivation, compulsion, executive function, and judgment, but it may not include the physical withdrawal symptoms seen in drug or alcohol dependence. Flip to Chapter 2 for an introduction to the biology of addiction.