The term “addiction” gets thrown around quite freely in everyday language—this is nothing new. Who among us hasn’t declared themselves addicted to some habit or substance, more jokingly than seriously? Who hasn’t accused someone else of being addicted to some substance, device, or routine that we consider excessive? How many songs claim the performer is addicted to love, to pain, to chaos, to you? This isn’t necessarily a bad thing: language is, after all, our playing field. The problem arises when healthcare professionals use such diagnoses just as casually.
This is precisely what a new study from the University of Valencia takes aim at. Published in Nature Reviews Psychology and aptly titled “To the addiction hammer, every habit looks like a nail,” the study highlights a growing tendency among some healthcare professionals to overdiagnose addiction by applying criteria designed for problematic alcohol or drug use to virtually any activity performed with high intensity or frequency.
This trend has clear consequences. As the study’s author, Víctor Ciudad-Fernández, states, it creates an “addiction factory,” trivializing the struggles of people who genuinely suffer from serious dependencies, while applying clinical labels and unnecessarily pathologizing those who are simply enjoying something intensely.
What counts as an addiction?
In an article published by the University of Valencia, Ciudad-Fernandez (who is also a researcher at the Polibienestar Institute of the University of Valencia) details the methodology behind this approach: “First, someone observes that a person engages very frequently in an activity (dancing, playing games, using their phone) and assumes that this must be an addiction. Then, a questionnaire is created by repurposing criteria for alcoholism or drug addiction and adapting them to the new behavior. The questionnaire is then applied and, naturally, it ‘confirms’ what was initially assumed.”
So, what counts as …
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Author: Marian Venini / High Times
