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Pharmacotherapy for Behavioral Addictions

  • Addictions (J Grant, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Certain behavioral syndromes (behavioral addictions), such as gambling disorder, stealing, shopping, and compulsive sexual behavior, appear to share clinical and neurobiological parallels with substance addictions. Pharmacological agents, often those used in substance addictions, have shown some benefit for behavioral addictions. This article reviews the double-blind, placebo-controlled pharmacological studies in the field of behavioral addictions. Future work is needed to develop treatment algorithms for people struggling with these disorders.

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Papers of particular interest, published recently, have been highlighted as: • Of importance •• Of major importance

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, Pritzker School of Medicine, University of Chicago, 5841 S. Maryland Avenue, MC 3077, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA

    Jon E. Grant

  2. Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Samuel R. Chamberlain

  3. Cambridge and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge, UK

    Samuel R. Chamberlain

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  1. Jon E. Grant
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  2. Samuel R. Chamberlain
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Correspondence to Jon E. Grant.

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Conflict of Interest

Dr. Grant has received research grants from NIMH, National Center for Responsible Gaming, and Forest, and Roche Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Grant receives yearly compensation from Springer Publishing for acting as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Gambling Studies and has received royalties from Oxford University Press, American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc., Norton Press, and McGraw Hill. Dr. Chamberlain consults for Cambridge Cognition, and his involvement in this study was facilitated by a grant from the Academy of Medical Sciences (AMS, UK)).

Dr. Chamberlain reports consultation for Cambridge Cognition, outside the submitted work.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Addictions

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Grant, J.E., Chamberlain, S.R. Pharmacotherapy for Behavioral Addictions. Curr Behav Neurosci Rep 3, 67–72 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40473-016-0065-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40473-016-0065-6

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