Dipendenza dal gioco d'azzardo? Una lettura fenomenologica sulle dipendenze comportamentali

[Autom. eng. transl.] At present it is not possible to have uniformity of judgment on behavioral addictions. The main Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (American Psychiatric Association, 2013), in its most updated version (DSM-5), places gambling disorder within a category that includes both disorders related to the use of substances and behavioral addictions, now known as addictive behaviors. The comparison between disorders related to substance use and addictive behaviors has been justified by the fact that in both cases, from a neuroscientific point of view, it is possible to witness a similar activation of the reward circuits, i.e. those brain reward systems which push the individual to repeat the rewarding behavior. Making use of this approach, over the years scientific research has highlighted that, in fact, gambling may not be the only addictive behaviour; other behavioral typologies, in fact, seem to present common psychophysiological characteristics. In this regard, there has been talk of "sex addiction", "exercise addiction", "internet addiction", "shopping addiction" etc. But is it really possible to start cataloging every predominant behavior as an addictive behavior?