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Addiction: An Overview

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Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research

Synonyms

Alcohol or drug dependence (physical or psychological or both); Alcoholism (alcohol dependence); Behavioral addictions; Dipsomania (alcohol dependence); Disordered gambling (formerly known as pathological gambling); Habituation; Hidden addiction (a term sometimes used for specific behavioral addictions)

Definition

In the past two decades, research has supported and recognized addiction as both a medical disorder, with the brain disease model of addiction, and a psychological disorder, given the impulsive and compulsive behaviors that characterize addiction (Volkow et al. 2016a). Characteristics of addictions have typically been defined by both the behaviors accompanying the disorders and their subsequent negative consequences.

From a medical perspective, addiction is defined as a primary, chronic disease of brain reward, motivation, memory, and related circuitry. Dysfunctions in these circuits lead to biological, social, and psychological changes. Addiction is further...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Centre for Youth Gambling Problems and High-Risk Behaviors, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Loredana A. Marchica, Caroline E. Temcheff & Jeffrey L. Derevensky

  2. The National Problem Gambling Clinic, London, UK

    Henrietta Bowden-Jones

Authors
  1. Loredana A. Marchica
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  2. Caroline E. Temcheff
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  3. Henrietta Bowden-Jones
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  4. Jeffrey L. Derevensky
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Correspondence to Jeffrey L. Derevensky .

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  1. Dipartimento di Scienze Statistiche, Sapienza Università di Roma, Roma, Italy

    Filomena Maggino

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  1. Univeristy of Palermo, Palermo, Italy

    Antonino Galati

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Marchica, L.A., Temcheff, C.E., Bowden-Jones, H., Derevensky, J.L. (2022). Addiction: An Overview. In: Maggino, F. (eds) Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69909-7_27-2

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