This chapter describes pseudoscience and questionable ideas related to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The chapter opens by discussing diagnostic changes and controversies such as adult-onset ADHD. Dubious treatments include neurofeedback, neurocognitive training, supplements, and cannabis-based products. The chapter closes by reviewing research-supported approaches.

This chapter reviews current research related to prevention, early interventions, and treatment strategies for "food addiction." However, the paucity of directly relevant investigation resulted in the necessity to broaden the focus to include studies in the area of general addiction disorders, and those targeting compulsive overeating and chronic weight gain. Included are discussions of school-based interventions aimed at reducing caloric intake, such as taxation on sweetened-beverage consumption, and the increased availability of fruits and vegetables in cafeteria menus. Consideration is also extended to discussions about the efficacy of public health policies and regulatory agencies aimed at reducing consumption of highly caloric foods at the population level – based on evidence of their addictive properties. This approach is based on past evidence that increasing prices and decreasing ease of access has reduced use of other addictive substances such as nicotine. Applied to addictive foods, this may indicate that implementing taxes on foods such as sugary candy and soda may aid in reducing consumption. Regarding treatment, although more focused research is still needed, perhaps the most promising evidence-based strategies occur in the field of cognitive interventions, which target hedonic overeating. These approaches are mostly theory driven and mesh with an experimental-medicine approach toward intervention development. It was also concluded that future research should carefully assess possible moderating effects of prevention/intervention and treatment approaches, including individual differences in sex/gender, personality traits such as impulsivity, and varying patterns of compulsive overeating. In addition, it would behoove future researchers to include standardized control groups in order to understand better the theoretical bases on which the interventions and treatments have been developed.

The landscape of gambling has dramatically changed. In addition to more and more jurisdictions having casinos, electronic gambling machines, lotteries and sports wagering in close proximity to individuals, online gambling has dramatically increased. Gambling has moved from being a negatively perceived activity associated with sin and vice to its current state of being viewed as a socially acceptable recreational pastime. Upwards of 80 percent of individuals report having gambled for money during their lifetime, and governments throughout the world have come to recognize that regulated forms of gambling can be a significant source of revenue. While the vast majority of individuals have no gambling-related issues, an identifiable proportion of both adults and adolescents experience significant gambling-related problems. In spite of the growing body of research which has identified many of the risk and protective factors associated with excessive problematic gambling, a limited number of prevention and treatment programs exist. This chapter examines current knowledge concerning the efficacy of existing harm minimization prevention programs and treatment of gambling disorders.

Approximately 23.5 million people in America need assistance for an alcohol, tobacco, or other drug use (ATOD) disorder, although many do not obtain the help that they need. This disorder is extremely difficult to resolve, as it can be hard to make the necessary lifestyle changes to accommodate sobriety. Sometimes, individuals may recover without formalized treatment, otherwise known as natural recovery. Other times, inpatient or outpatient treatment, or partial-hospitalization, is warranted. Even for individuals taking the proper steps and going to treatment, attrition rates are high, with consistent drop-out rates of 30 percent to 40 percent within three months of treatment initiation. Racial and gender disparities in both treatment participation and outcomes exist, indicating a need for tailoring of treatments and further research on breaking barriers to treatment entrance. Motivation is central in several recovery models proposed to explain stages of change in treatment. Treatment options include initial detoxification and pharmacological options (such as medication-assisted treatment using buprenorphine for opioid use disorder), cognitive-behavioral therapy, motivational interviewing, cue exposure, attentional retraining, twelve-step programs, and group/family therapy. Relapse rates are high, and oftentimes individuals move from one addiction to another. Harm reduction approaches may be beneficial to those that cannot fully quit an addiction, and relapse prevention is an important treatment component, as addiction is a life-long battle.

Compulsive buying disorder (CBD) is characterized by excessive shopping of unneeded or unwanted items that leads to distress or impairment. The classification of compulsive buying disorder remains elusive. Some researchers suggest that it should be grouped with behavioral addictions, while others have linked it to mood and to obsessive-compulsive disorders. CBD is relatively common, with prevalence rates in general population varying from 2 percent to 8 percent across different countries. Age of onset typically coincides with the age at which people first establish credit accounts and with emancipation from home. It shares similar clinical characteristics with classical addictive disorders including compulsive preoccupation, craving, loss of control and negative consequences of shopping. CBD tends to run in families and is associated with significant psychiatric comorbidity, particularly mood and anxiety disorders, substance use disorders, eating disorders, and other disorders of impulse control. Little is known about the neurobiological and genetic mechanisms underlying CBD, nor is there standard treatment. Cognitive-behavioral therapy is promising, while medication studies have been disappointing. Future research on CBD should target etiologic mechanisms and both psychological and pharmacological treatments. Beyond treatment, educational (i.e., learning new coping skills, media literacy instruction) and public policy efforts, as well as parental modeling of appropriate buying behavior, could be beneficial to those with CBD.

Sex addiction has received substantial attention over the past decade and has been accepted by the World Health Organization as Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder in the forthcoming ICD-11. This chapter outlines etiology, existing controversies, measurement, and treatment approaches to helping individuals with sex addiction in clinical settings. Although a lot of research has helped researchers and practitioners better understand the associated characteristics of sex addiction, the field is still in its infancy and in need of further study.

This chapter provides an overview of the key areas of agreement and debate about workaholism, particularly its conceptualization, prevention, and treatment. The chapter integrates biomedical and health psychology perspectives with a view to challenging and advancing understanding on how to prevent people from developing a problematic relationship with work, and how best to support those experiencing the problem. The chapter begins by reviewing the conceptualization of workaholism, and then reviews the existing evidence concerning the main correlates and vulnerability factors. This discussion then leads to an exploration into alternative ways that workaholism can be theorized, in particular biopsychosocial models and critical theory of addiction. Building upon this combined theoretical perspective, the chapter ends by reviewing and speculating on different aspects of prevention and treatment according to the different stakeholders involved.

This chapter provides a brief overview of gaming disorder (GD) and its treatment. There are now over twenty different screens for assessing problematic gaming although relatively few have used nationally representative samples. The prevalence rates in these nationally representative studies have ranged from 1.2 percent to 8.5 percent depending upon country and screening instrument used. There have been a number of studies describing treatment of GD, although many of these tend not to distinguish between Internet Use Disorder and GD. In terms of treatment for GD, both psychological and pharmacological approaches have been adopted. More specifically, psychological treatment using a cognitive-behavioral framework (CBT) appears to be the most widely used. Furthermore, pharmacological treatment using opioid receptor antagonists, antidepressants, antipsychotics, opioid receptor antagonists, and psychostimulants has been reported in the literature. It is concluded that standardized and comprehensive methods of diagnosis are at present lacking, and that further research into GD is needed from clinical, epidemiological, cross-cultural, and neurobiological perspectives of GD.