What does it mean to be addicted to a substance? When we talk about addiction, we usually think of drugs. However, “drug” is not a strictly scientific term—it belongs more to social, and probably legal, vocabulary. It defines a group of substances that are capable of causing addiction or whose possession and distribution are prohibited by law. But how do we approach the issue from a clinical perspective? Let me explain it in my own words.
The journey through Disruptive, Impulse-Control, and Conduct Disorders concludes with the following two disorders: Pyromania and Kleptomania. These are probably words we already know, but let’s go over them again.
In the previous post, we saw how the angry outbursts of Intermittent Explosive Disorder can even culminate in physical aggression. The next step is the inability to control behavior, which may lead to harming others (through aggression, theft, or property destruction) with a possible lack of concern for the consequences of one’s actions. This is the case of Conduct Disorder.
When I talked about emotions, I explained the concept of the priority of negative emotions. This is an evolutionary concept, according to which negative emotions such as anger and fear are activated more quickly than others because they are adaptive. In other words, recognizing anger in others and in oneself helps avoid a potentially harmful escalation.
