Are we overpathologizing everyday life? A tenable blueprint for behavioral addiction research
Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc · UCLouvain · +2 more institutions
Abstract
Background Behavioral addiction research has been particularly flourishing over the last two decades. However, recent publications have suggested that nearly all daily life activities might lead to a genuine addiction. Methods and aim In this article, we discuss how the use of atheoretical and confirmatory research approaches may result in the identification of an unlimited list of "new" behavioral addictions. Results Both methodological and theoretical shortcomings of these studies were discussed. Conclusions We suggested that studies overpathologizing daily life activities are likely to prompt a dismissive appraisal of behavioral addiction research. Consequently, we proposed several roadmaps for future…
Citation impact
- FWCI
- 73.63
- Percentile
- 100%
- References
- 44
Authors
5Topics & keywords
- Addiction
- Flourishing
- Psychology
- Behavioral addiction
- Everyday life
- Blueprint
- Social psychology
- Psychiatry
- Good health and well-being