Kathryn Patricelli, MA was an editor with Mentalhelp.net from 2004-2015. She received her Master's Degree in Counseling and Psychological Services, and holds a Bachelor’s ...Read More
We are very pleased to announce an updated and greatly expanded Addictions Topic Center. This new topic center was developed in accordance with the latest addictions research. The principal author is Dr. Tom Horvath, former president of the APA’s Addiction Division. This new series of articles on addiction incorporates some of the changes that are anticipated in the new DSM-5. As DSM-5 has evolved, these changes to the diagnostic category of Substance Use Disorders have continually shifted. It is difficult to predict what the final version of DSM-5 will look like. Nonetheless, it seems clear that there will no longer be a distinction between Substance Abuse and Substance Dependence. However, we will continue to include these diagnostic categories until the final version of DSM-5 is released in May 2013.
The new Addictions center contains 125 pages of material divided over 7 chapters, which include:
What is Addiction?
What Causes Addiction?
How Do You Get Addicted?
Signs and Symptoms of Addiction
Treatment for Addiction
References
Resources
Frequently Asked Questions about Addiction
Other anticipated changes to the DSM-V were the inclusion of so-called behavioral or activity addictions such as gambling addiction, sexual addiction, and internet gaming addiction. The inclusion and precise location of these newer diagnostic labels is still unknown. Nonetheless, we are currently developing, and will be releasing over the next several months, specialized topic centers for each of these behavioral addictions because we know that many people are searching for help using terms like ‘alcoholism’, ‘gambling addiction’ and ‘sexual addiction’ rather than just using the more general ‘Addictions’ terminology preferred by the DSM-5.
The first of these will be a specialized Alcoholism Topic Center that we hope to release after the first of the year. Ultimately, we expect that the current topic center, Addictions: Alcohol and Substance Abuse, will be replaced by this new Addictions topic and the specialized topics. For the foreseeable future however, both will be available.
We are committed to providing mental health resources that reflect the latest scientific research but that are accessible and easy to locate.
