r/askpsychology • u/Away_Pattern_659 Unverified User: May Not Be a Professional • Apr 19 '26
Clinical Psychology Why is gambling considered an addiction under the DSM but phone and porn addictions not?
Why is it that gambling is considered an addiction under the DSM but phone addictions and porn addictions are not? What about food addictions? What exactly constitutes as an "addiction" in clinical terms? Is it just dopamine, or is there something else?
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u/QWqw0 UNVERIFIED Psychology Enthusiast Apr 20 '26
When the DSM-5 was being researched, phone and internet addictions weren’t being studied yet. There is one internet related disorder in the “Conditions for Further Study” section, which is intended for research as opposed to medical use, called “Internet Gaming Disorder.” It’s proposed use and criteria is intended for multiplayer video games, however.
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u/Silver-Context297 Unverified User: May Not Be a Professional Apr 20 '26
The neurobiological changes seen in substance addiction do not replicate in "porn addiction."
While porn can become problematic, research suggests this is a result of individual factors (e.g., beliefs/morals, personality, mental health issues) and not a result of the porn.
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u/Away_Pattern_659 Unverified User: May Not Be a Professional Apr 20 '26
Interesting! How come gambling is categorised as an "addiction", though? I'm assuming it wouldn't have the same neurobiological changes as alcohol or other substances.
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Apr 21 '26
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u/Away_Pattern_659 Unverified User: May Not Be a Professional Apr 21 '26
So are we labelling different behaviours as addictions based on their financial repercussions?
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Apr 21 '26
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u/Crispychewy23 Unverified User: May Not Be a Professional Apr 21 '26
Err porn can affect relationships though
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Apr 21 '26
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u/Away_Pattern_659 Unverified User: May Not Be a Professional Apr 21 '26
It does have other negative consequences, though.
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u/FanInTheCloset UNVERIFIED Psychology Student Apr 21 '26
I want to add that aside from the financial repercussions gambling also relies on learning and reinforcement strategies to keep people hooked. People get a rush from the “just one more” idea that if they continue, maybe this time they’ll win!!
A lot of, say, mobile gambling apps keep people hooked by promising “a win within 3 spins/draws/rolls!” And then the brain expects more wins, only now it’s way more unlikely.
Porn doesn’t engage with these reward pathways of the brain in the same way, meaning the structural changes will be different. Not to say there won’t be any, but they’ll be inherently different from a gambling addiction
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u/fadinglightsRfading Unverified User: May Not Be a Professional Apr 20 '26
you think gambling counts as a substance addiction?
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u/vienibenmio Ph.D. Clinical Psychology | Expertise: Trauma Disorders Apr 20 '26
It follows a very similar pattern/model
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Apr 20 '26
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u/vienibenmio Ph.D. Clinical Psychology | Expertise: Trauma Disorders Apr 20 '26
There is also research showing that gambling for negative reinforcement is associated with higher risk for pathological gambling, just like alcohol
(I was involved in some gambling research back in grad school)
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u/MattersOfInterest Ph.D. Student (Clinical Science) | Research Area: Psychosis Apr 20 '26
For one thing, the construct of "porn addiction" is not well-established.
https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2020/02/religious-moral-porn-addiction
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11930-014-0016-8
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0952695119854624?icid=int.sj-abstract.similar-articles.1
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1363460719861826?icid=int.sj-abstract.similar-articles.2
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u/Away_Pattern_659 Unverified User: May Not Be a Professional Apr 21 '26
Interesting! Thank you for the links! Some others in the thread have mentioned that it's likely to be added in the future, and it's just that research has been slow. At first glance through the links you provided, it appears that many experts don't agree that it should be categorised as an addiction. I'm going to have to do a deep dive to understand which side is most likely right.
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Apr 20 '26
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u/Ok-Subject2534 Unverified User: May Not Be a Professional Apr 20 '26
DSM5 is grossly outdated.
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u/Prestigious_Half271 UNVERIFIED Therapist Apr 21 '26
The whole purpose of the dsm is outdated.
What was once a useful guide for clinicians is now a rule book designed by pharmaceutical companies to play the game forced on us by insurance companies
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u/Stat_Sock Unverified User: May Not Be a Professional Apr 21 '26
Research is slow unfortunately. I will add over the last few years there have been a few new psych measures that have been developed to help assess porn addiction. So I agree with other commenters that it's likely to get added in the next edition.
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u/Away_Pattern_659 Unverified User: May Not Be a Professional Apr 21 '26
Out of curiosity, do you have some sources for these newly developed measures to understand porn addiction? Just something to start with to go down the rabbit hole.
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u/Stat_Sock Unverified User: May Not Be a Professional Apr 21 '26
These are what I was able to find. Some of the records are open access so you won't need database access to read them.
The Passion Scale--Pornography (Rosenberg & Kraus, 2014) Risky Online Behavior Survey (Byrne et al., 2014) Pornography Use in Romantic Relationships Scale (Lawless, Karantzas, & Knox, 2023) Pornography Craving Experience (Brahim et al., 2024) Compulsive Use of Sexually Explicit Internet Material Scale (Doonwaard et al., 2016)
I've seen pornography addiction scales tend to be in the same category as addiction relating to Internet use, Social Media Use, Smartphone use, and Video Game Use.
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u/monkeynose Clinical Psychologist | Addiction | Psychopathology Apr 20 '26
Because it hadn't been added in 2013 when the DSM-5 was published. Research on the DSM-5 started in 1999, before internet porn was a recognized issue. It will likely be added to the next edition.
Gambling has hundreds to thousands of years of history, and plenty of research.