A short 11-question Internet game screen called the BIGS was developed by reSTART to assist in the screening of problematic video game and Internet use.

Screening for problematic use in individuals due the ever-changing digital landscape. Researchers Northrup, Lapierre, Kirk and Rae developers of the Internet Process Addiction Test (IPAT) propose that tools measure different processes utilized over the Internet, such as video game play, social networking, sexual activity and web surfing, may be more helpful than a measure of Internet addiction itself, as the Internet is simply a medium which facilities a variety of interactions, some of which are highly addictive, and others less so.

Since people buying more than they need is usual and accepted, even the most excessive behaviour takes a long time before being considered pathological. Shopping addiction generally manifests between 20–30 years old,

but is not usually detected until several years after, when the addiction has led the person to ruin and bankrupt.

There are usually two stages in coping with the problem. First, people around the addict or the health or social services detect the problem and try to treat it. When, because of the seriousness of the case, it is not possible to solve it in this way, specialised professionals, such as psychologist or psychiatrics, take part. The diagnosis and evaluation of shopping addiction is based on the analysis of confirmed behaviours and their consequences. Specific tests or questionnaires, as the FACC-II (Questionnaire on the psychological aspects of consumer addiction, debt and personal spending habits) are also used. These specific questionnaires or tests are useful in the diagnosis and evaluation of shopping addiction problems, and to drive the therapies in a proper way. FACC-II is one of the most specific and widest. The Edwards Scale is another approach which measures the tendency to compulsively buy. All these resources, as well as personal interviews of the addict and people who surround them, reports and other documents, enable knowledge of when people buy, what they buy and the methods of payment used.

The most common instrument used to screen for "probable pathological gambling" behavior is the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) developed by Lesieur and Blume (1987) at the South Oaks Hospital in New York City. In recent years the use of SOGS has declined due to a number of criticisms, including that it overestimates false positives (Battersby, Tolchard, Thomas & Esterman, 2002).

The "DSM-IV" diagnostic criteria presented as a checklist is an alternative to SOGS, it focuses on the psychological motivations underpinning problem gambling and was developed by the American Psychiatric Association. It consists of ten diagnostic criteria. One frequently used screening measure based upon the DSM-IV criteria is the National Opinion Research Center DSM Screen for Gambling Problems (NODS). The Canadian Problem Gambling Inventory (CPGI) and the Victorian Gambling Screen (VGS) are newer assessment measures. The Problem Gambling Severity Index, which focuses on the harms associated with problem gambling, is composed of nine items from the longer CPGI. The VGS is also harm based and includes 15 items. The VGS has proven validity and reliability in population studies as well as Adolescents and clinic gamblers.

Cash, Rae and Winkler, in a paper titled "Internet Addiction: A brief summary of research and practice", describe early interventions used in the treatment of Internet addiction (IAD), and Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD).

Cognitive Behavior Therapy is designed to help individuals learn how to control their thoughts and feelings. This control is to prevent harmful functions that may trigger impulses to escape into the virtual world. The therapy is setup for three stages. The first stage is to instruct the patient to identify there is a problem and how much a problem computers are creating. Identification is done by using a log to document duration, events, day, of online activity. This can be used to show in black and white how much time is spent online and to help create a realistic goal for patients to strive for. Using this log the patients interact with a therapist to make a schedule for online activity to promote new healthier habits. The second aspect of the treatment program is more for the cognitive aspect, as in, digging into what triggers the excessive online activity. The third phase is to confront or resolve the issues in the patient's life that lead to them seeking escape things via the Internet.

One source states that a major reason the Internet is so appealing is the lack of limits and the absence of accountability.

Professionals generally agree that, for Internet overuse, controlled use is a more practical goal than total abstinence.

Families in the People's Republic of China have turned to unlicensed training camps that offer to "wean" their children, often in their teens, from overuse of the Internet. The training camps have been associated with the death of at least one youth. In November 2009, the government of the People's Republic of China banned physical punishment to "wean" teens from the Internet. Electro-shock therapy had already been banned.

In August 2013, researchers at the MIT Media Lab developed a USB-connected keyboard accessory that would "punish" users – with a small electric jolt – who spent too much time on a particular website.

In July 2014, an internet de-addiction center was started in Delhi, the capital city of India by a non profit organization, Uday Foundation. The Foundation provides counseling to the children and teens with internet addiction disorder.

In August 2009, "ReSTART", a United States-based residential treatment center for "problematic digital media use, internet addiction, and video game addiction", opened near Seattle, Washington, United States. It offers a 7- to 12-week intensive program for adolescents and adults intended to help people set device limits, and address digital distractions.

In 2005, Professor Kiesler called Internet addiction a fad illness. In her view, she said, television addiction is worse. She added that she was completing a study of heavy Internet users, which showed the majority had sharply reduced their time on the computer over the course of a year, indicating that even problematic use was self-corrective.

Because few clinical trials and no meta-analyses have been completed, research is still in the preliminary stages for excessive gaming treatment. The most effective treatments seem to be, as with other addictions and dependencies, a combination of psychopharmacology, psychotherapy and twelve-step programs.

Some countries, such as South Korea, China, the Netherlands, Canada, and the United States, have responded to the perceived threat of video game addiction by opening treatment centers.

Gambling self-exclusion (voluntary exclusion) programs are available in the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, South Africa, France, and other countries. They seem to help some (but not all) problem gamblers to gamble less often.

Some experts maintain that casinos in general arrange for self-exclusion programs as a public relations measure without actually helping many of those with problem gambling issues. A campaign of this type merely "deflects attention away from problematic products and industries," according to Natasha Dow Schull, a cultural anthropologist at New York University and author of the book "Addiction by Design" who was interviewed for The Fifth Estate (TV series) aired by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

There is also a question as to the effectiveness of such programs, which can be difficult to enforce. In the province of Ontario, Canada, for example, the Self-Exclusion program operated by the government's Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) is not effective, according to investigation conducted by the television series, revealed in late 2017. "Gambling addicts ... said that while on the ... self-exclusion list, they entered OLG properties on a regular basis" in spite of the facial recognition technology in place at the casinos, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. As well, a CBC journalist who tested the system found that he was able to enter Ontario casinos and gamble on four distinct occasions, in spite of having been registered and photographed for the self-exclusion program. An OLG spokesman provided this response when questioned by the CBC: "We provide supports to self-excluders by training our staff, by providing disincentives, by providing facial recognition, by providing our security officers to look for players. No one element is going to be foolproof because it is not designed to be foolproof".

Different assessment tools can be used to determine if an individual is addicted to exercise. Most tools used to determine risk for exercise addiction are modified tools that have been used for assessing other behavioral addictions. Tools for determining eating disorders can also show a high risk for exercise addiction.

The Obligatory Exercise Questionnaire was created by Thompson and Pasman in 1991, consisting of 20 questions on exercise habits and attitudes toward exercise and body image. Patients respond to statements on a scale of 1 (never) to 4 (always). This questionnaire aided in the development of another assessment tool, the Exercise Addiction Inventory.

The Exercise Addiction Inventory was developed by Terry "et al" in 2004. This inventory was developed as a self-report to examine an individual's beliefs toward exercise. The inventory is made up of six statements in relation to the perception of exercise, concerning: the importance of exercise to the individual, relationship conflicts due to exercise, how mood changes with exercise, the amount of time spent exercising, the outcome of missing a workout, and the effects of decreasing physical activity. Individuals are asked to rate each statement from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). If an individual scores above 24 they are said to be at-risk for exercise addiction.

The inclusion of this problem in the obsessive-compulsive disorders and its relation with depression has led to some use of antidepressants as a treatment. Within antidepressant drugs, special attention has been paid to those related to serotonin, a brain neurotransmitter. This substance is supposed to be related to deficiencies in stimulus control, so that medicines like fluoxetine and fluvoxamine, which raise the level of serotonin in the brain, would be a pharmacological alternative to treat shopping addiction. Even though results are not conclusive, in the nineties some research was carried out which supported the effectiveness of tese treatments, at least in certain cases.

A lot of studies and surveys are being conducted to measure the extent of this type of addiction. Dr.Kimberly S. Young has created s questionnaire based on other disorders to assess the level of addiction. It is called the Internet Addict Diagnostic Questionnaire or IADQ. Answering positively to five out of the eight questions may be indicative of an online addiction.

The American Psychiatric Association decided that enough evidence exists to propose the potential disorder of video game addiction as a "condition requiring further study" in the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" as Internet gaming disorder. Video game addiction is a broader concept than internet gaming addiction, but most video game addiction is associated with Internet gaming. APA suggests, like Khan, the effects (or symptoms) of video game addiction may be similar to those of other proposed psychological addictions. Video game addiction may be an impulse control disorder, similar to compulsive gambling APA explains why Internet gaming disorder has been proposed as a disorder:

Excessive use of video games may have some or all of the symptoms of drug addiction or other proposed psychological addictions.

Some players become more concerned with their interactions in the game than in their broader lives. Players may play many hours per day, neglect personal hygiene, gain or lose significant weight due to playing, disrupt sleep patterns to play resulting in sleep deprivation, play at work, avoid phone calls from friends, or lie about how much time they spend playing video games.

APA has developed 9 criteria for characterizing the proposed Internet gaming disorder:

1. Pre-occupation. Do you spend a lot of time thinking about games even when you are not playing, or planning when you can play next?

2. Withdrawal. Do you feel restless, irritable, moody, angry, anxious or sad when attempting to cut down or stop gaming, or when you are unable to play?

3. Tolerance. Do you feel the need to play for increasing amounts of time, play more exciting games, or use more powerful equipment to get the same amount of excitement you used to get?

4. Reduce/stop. Do you feel that you should play less, but are unable to cut back on the amount of time you spend playing games?

5. Give up other activities. Do you lose interest in or reduce participation in other recreational activities (hobbies, meetings with friends) due to gaming?

6. Continue despite problems. Do you continue to play games even though you are aware of negative consequences, such as not getting enough sleep, being late to school/work, spending too much money, having arguments with others, or neglecting important duties?

7. Deceive/cover up. Do you lie to family, friends or others about how much you game, or try to keep your family or friends from knowing how much you game?

8. Escape adverse moods. Do you game to escape from or forget about personal problems, or to relieve uncomfortable feelings such as guilt, anxiety, helplessness or depression?

9. Risk/lose relationships/opportunities. Do you risk or lose significant relationships, or job, educational or career opportunities because of gaming?

One of the most commonly used instruments for the measurement of addiction, the PVP Questionnaire (Problem Video Game Playing Questionnaire), was presented as a quantitative measure, not as a diagnostic tool.

According to Griffiths, "all addictions (whether chemical or behavioral) are essentially about constant rewards and reinforcement". Griffiths proposed that addiction has six components: salience, mood modification, tolerance, withdrawal, conflict, and relapse. But, APA's 9 criteria for diagnosing Internet gaming disorder were made by taking point of departure in 8 different diagnostic/measuring tools proposed in other studies. Thus, APA's criteria attempt to condense the scientific work on diagnosing Internet gaming disorder.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has also proposed possible categories for "gaming disorder" for the forthcoming International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD). A group of 26 scholars wrote an open letter to the WHO, suggesting that the proposed diagnostic categories lacked scientific merit and were likely to do more harm than good. A December 2017 draft of ICD-11 submitted to WHO approval (expected by 2018) includes "gaming addiction", defined as "a pattern of persistent or recurrent gaming behaviour ('digital gaming' or 'video-gaming')", defined by three criteria: the lack of control of playing video games, priority given to video games over other interests, and inability to stop playing video games even after being affected by negative consequences.

Kimberly Young indicates that previous research links internet/computer addiction with existing mental health issues, most notably depression. She states that computer addiction has significant effects socially such as low self-esteem, psychologically and occupationally which led many subjects to academic failure.

According to a Korean study on internet/computer addiction, pathological use of the internet results in negative life impacts such as job loss, marriage breakdown, financial debt, and academic failure. 70% of internet users in Korea are reported to play online games, 18% of which are diagnosed as game addicts which relates to internet/computer addiction. The authors of the article conducted a study using Kimberly Young's questionnaire. The study showed that the majority of those who met the requirements of internet/computer addiction suffered from interpersonal difficulties and stress and that those addicted to online games specifically responded that they hoped to avoid reality.

Overuse is often defined as a "dependence syndrome," which is the term used by the World Health Organization (WHO Expert Committee, 1964) to replace "addiction" or "habituation." This is categorised either as substance abuse, such as from psychoactive drugs, alcohol and tobacco under ICD-10, or a behavioral addiction, such as a mobile phone addiction.

Substance use disorders can be defined by 11 factors, according to the DSM-5, including: (1) use in larger quantities or for longer than initially intended, (2) a desire to cut down or control use, (3) spending a great deal of time obtaining, using, or recovering from the substance, (4) craving, (8) use in situations in which it is physically hazardous, (9) continued use of the substance despite adverse physical or psychological consequences associated with use, and (11) withdrawal symptoms.

Smartphone addiction can be compared to substance use disorders in that smartphones provide the drug (entertainment and connection) while acting as the means by which the drug is consumed. A study conducted at Alabama State University on the effects of smartphones on students, defines the issue by stating that we are not addicted to smartphones themselves, but that we "are addicted to the information, entertainment, and personal connections [that a smartphone] delivers." People have an affinity for constant entertainment, and smartphones provide the quickest, most easily accessible route to it.

In November 2016, the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists (AASECT), the official body for sex and relationship therapy in the United States, issued a position statement on Sex Addiction which states that AASECT "does not find sufficient empirical evidence to support the classification of sex addiction or porn addiction as a mental health disorder, and does not find the sexual addiction training and treatment methods and educational pedagogies to be adequately informed by accurate human sexuality knowledge. Therefore, it is the position of AASECT that linking problems related to sexual urges, thoughts or behaviors to a porn/sexual addiction process cannot be advanced by AASECT as a standard of practice for sexuality education delivery, counseling or therapy."

In 2017, three new USA sexual health organizations found no support for the idea that sex or adult films were addictive in their position statement.

In November 16, 2017 the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers (ATSA) published a position against sending sex offenders to sex addiction treatment facilities. Those centers argued that "illegal" behaviors were symptoms of sex addiction, which ATSA challenged they had no scientific evidence to support.

Prevalence of mobile phone overuse depends largely on definition and thus the scales used to quantify a subject's behaviors. Two scales are in use, the 20-item self-reported Problematic Use of Mobile Phones (PUMP) scale, and the Mobile Phone Problem Use Scale (MPPUS), which have been used both with adult and adolescent populations. There are variations in the age, gender and percentage of the population affected problematically according to the scales and definitions used. The prevalence among British adolescents aged 11–14 was 10%. In India, addiction is stated at 39-44% for this age group. Under different diagnostic criteria, the estimated prevalence ranges from 0 to 38%, with self-attribution of mobile phone addiction exceeding the prevalence estimated in the studies themselves. The prevalence of the related problem of Internet addiction was 4.9-10.7% in Korea, and is now regarded as a serious public health issue.

Behaviors associated with mobile-phone addiction differ between genders. Women are more likely to develop addictive mobile phone behavior than men. Men experience less social stress than women and use their mobile phones less for social purposes. Older people are less likely to develop addictive mobile phone behavior because of different social usage, stress and greater self-regulation.

Some scholars believe that codependency is not a negative trait, and does not need to be treated, as it is more likely a healthy personality trait taken to excess. Codependency in nonclinical populations has some links with favourable characteristics of family functioning.

Stan Katz states that codependence is over-diagnosed, and that many people who could be helped with shorter-term treatments instead become dependent on long-term self-help programs. The language of, symptoms of, and treatment for codependence derive from the medical model suggesting a disease process underlies the behavior. However, there is no evidence that codependence is caused by a disease process.

In their book, “Attached.”, Dr. Amir Levine and Rachel S. F. Heller, address what they call the “codependency myth” by asserting that attachment theory is a more scientific and helpful model for understanding and dealing with attachment in adults.

Some mental health providers have proposed various, but similar, criteria for diagnosing sexual addiction, including [[Patrick Carnes]], and [[Aviel Goodman]]. Carnes authored the first clinical book about sex addiction in 1983, based on his own empirical research. His diagnostic model is still largely utilized by the thousands of certified sex addiction therapists (CSATs) trained by the organization he founded. No diagnostic proposal for sex addiction has been adopted into any official government diagnostic manual, however.

During the update of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual to version 5 (DSM-5), the APA rejected two independent proposals for inclusion.

In 2011, the [[American Society of Addiction Medicine]] (ASAM), the largest medical consensus of physicians dedicated to treating and preventing addiction, redefined addiction as a chronic brain disorder, which for the first time broadened the definition of addiction from substances to include addictive behaviors and reward-seeking, such as gambling and sex.

Alternative therapies, such as acupuncture, are used by some practitioners to alleviate the symptoms of drug addiction. In 1997, the American Medical Association (AMA) adopted as policy the following statement after a report on a number of alternative therapies including acupuncture:

There is little evidence to confirm the safety or efficacy of most alternative therapies. Much of the information currently known about these therapies makes it clear that many have not been shown to be efficacious. Well-designed, stringently controlled research should be done to evaluate the efficacy of alternative therapies.

Acupuncture has been shown to be no more effective than control treatments in the treatment of opiate dependence. Acupuncture, acupressure, laser therapy and electrostimulation have no demonstrated efficacy for smoking cessation.

Important phases in treating substance dependence include establishing coping mechanisms to deal with the hardships of withdrawal symptoms. With the correct approaches, the patient can live a healthier life.

Some online resources have served as aids to those working to overcome addictions. These websites allow struggling addicts, family members of addicts, and people who are in the recovery stage to seek or offer advice or support. Such sites provide an alternative, anonymized means for people impacted by addiction to seek help, social support, and information through chat rooms, forums, and blogs.

When treating addictive personalities, the primary or presenting addiction needs to be treated first. Only once the behavior is under control can the person truly begin to do any of the therapeutic work necessary for recovery.

Common forms of treatment for addictive personalities include cognitive behavioral therapy, as well as other behavioral approaches. These treatments help patients by providing healthy coping skills training, relapse prevention, behavior interventions, family and group therapy, facilitated self-change approaches, and aversion therapy. Behavioral approaches include using positive reinforcement and behavioral modeling. Along with these, other options that help with treating those who suffer with addictive personality include social support, help with goal direction, rewards, enhancing self-efficacy and help teaching coping skills.

Another important skill to learn in treatment, which can be overlooked, is self-soothing. People with addictive personalities use their addictions as coping mechanisms when in stressful situations. However, since their addictions do not actually soothe them, so much as they provide momentary relief from anxiety or uncomfortable emotions, these individuals feel the need to use their addiction more often. Thus, self-soothing and other mindfulness-based interventions can be used for treatment because they provide healthier coping mechanisms once the addictive behavior has been removed. These strategies relate to the use of dialectical behavior therapy, another useful technique. DBT provides ways to tolerate distress and regulate emotions, both of which are challenging to someone with an addictive personality. DBT may not be the most effective treatment for all substance abusers, but there is evidence that it is helpful for most alcoholics and addicts, as well as in eating disorders, and those with co-occurring conditions.

Another form of treatment that has been considered for people with addictive personalities who tend towards substance abuse is medication. A medication called Disulfiram was created in 1947. This pill was used for alcoholics and would cause adverse effects if combined with alcohol. This medication is still used today but two others have been made to help treat alcohol dependence (Acamprosate and Naltrexone). Along with alcohol addictions, Naltrexone is also used for opioid addiction.

Although these medications have proven results in decreasing heavy drinking, doctors still have to consider the patients' health and the risky side effects when prescribing these medications.

Some medical systems, including those of at least 15 states of the United States, refer to an Addiction Severity Index to assess the severity of problems related to substance use. According to DARA Thailand, the index assesses potential problems in seven categories: medical, employment/support, alcohol, other drug use, legal, family/social, and psychiatric.

In the dysfunctional family the child learns to become attuned to the parent's needs and feelings instead of the other way around. Parenting is a role that requires a certain amount of self-sacrifice and giving a child's needs a high priority. A parent can, nevertheless, be codependent towards their own children if the caretaking or parental sacrifice reaches unhealthy or destructive levels. Generally, a parent who takes care of their own needs (emotional and physical) in a healthy way will be a better caretaker, whereas a codependent parent may be less effective, or may even do harm to a child. Codependent relationships often manifest through enabling behaviors, especially between parents and their children. Another way to look at it is that the needs of an infant are necessary but temporary, whereas the needs of the codependent are constant. Children of codependent parents who ignore or negate their own feelings may become codependent.

Treatment involves becoming conscious of the addiction through studying, therapy, group work, etc...

Research done by Michel Lejoyeux and Aviv Weinstein suggests that the best possible treatment for CB is through cognitive behavioral therapy. They suggest that a patient first be "evaluated for psychiatric comorbidity, especially with depression, so that appropriate pharmacological treatment can be instituted." Their research indicates that patients who received cognitive behavioral therapy over 10 weeks had reduced episodes of compulsive buying and spent less time shopping as opposed to patients who did not receive this treatment (251).

Lejoyeux and Weinstein also write about pharmacological treatment and studies that question the use of drugs on CB. They declare "Few controlled studies have assessed the effects of pharmacological treatment on compulsive buying, and none have shown any medication to be effective" (252). The most effective treatment is to attend therapy and group work in order to prevent continuation of this addiction.

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors such as fluvoxamine and citalopram may be useful in the treatment of CBD, although current evidence is mixed. Opioid antagonists such as naltrexone and nalmefene are promising potential treatments for CBD. A review concluded that evidence is limited and insufficient to support their use at present, however. Naltrexone and nalmefene have also shown effectiveness in the treatment of gambling addiction, an associated disorder.

Residential drug treatment can be broadly divided into two camps: 12-step programs and therapeutic communities. Twelve-step programs are a nonclinical support-group and faith-based approach to treating addiction. Therapy typically involves the use of cognitive-behavioral therapy, an approach that looks at the relationship between thoughts, feelings and behaviors, addressing the root cause of maladaptive behavior. Cognitive-behavioral therapy treats addiction as a behavior rather than a disease, and so is subsequently curable, or rather, unlearnable. Cognitive-behavioral therapy programs recognize that, for some individuals, controlled use is a more realistic possibility.

One of many recovery methods are 12-step recovery programs, with prominent examples including Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, Drug Addicts Anonymous and Pills Anonymous. They are commonly known and used for a variety of addictions for the individual addicted and the family of the individual. Substance-abuse rehabilitation (rehab) centers offer a residential treatment program for some of the more seriously addicted, in order to isolate the patient from drugs and interactions with other users and dealers. Outpatient clinics usually offer a combination of individual counseling and group counseling. Frequently, a physician or psychiatrist will prescribe medications in order to help patients cope with the side effects of their addiction. Medications can help immensely with anxiety and insomnia, can treat underlying mental disorders (cf. self-medication hypothesis, Khantzian 1997) such as depression, and can help reduce or eliminate withdrawal symptomology when withdrawing from physiologically addictive drugs. Some examples are using benzodiazepines for alcohol detoxification, which prevents delirium tremens and complications; using a slow taper of benzodiazepines or a taper of phenobarbital, sometimes including another antiepileptic agent such as gabapentin, pregabalin, or valproate, for withdrawal from barbiturates or benzodiazepines; using drugs such as baclofen to reduce cravings and propensity for relapse amongst addicts to any drug, especially effective in stimulant users, and alcoholics (in which it is nearly as effective as benzodiazepines in preventing complications); using clonidine, an alpha-agonist, and loperamide for opioid detoxification, for first-time users or those who wish to attempt an abstinence-based recovery (90% of opioid users relapse to active addiction within eight months or are multiple relapse patients); or replacing an opioid that is interfering with or destructive to a user's life, such as illicitly-obtained heroin, dilaudid, or oxycodone, with an opioid that can be administered legally, reduces or eliminates drug cravings, and does not produce a high, such as methadone or buprenorphine – opioid replacement therapy – which is the gold standard for treatment of opioid dependence in developed countries, reducing the risk and cost to both user and society more effectively than any other treatment modality (for opioid dependence), and shows the best short-term and long-term gains for the user, with the greatest longevity, least risk of fatality, greatest quality of life, and lowest risk of relapse and legal issues including arrest and incarceration.

In a survey of treatment providers from three separate institutions, the National Association of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors, Rational Recovery Systems and the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors, measuring the treatment provider's responses on the "Spiritual Belief Scale" (a scale measuring belief in the four spiritual characteristics of AA identified by Ernest Kurtz); the scores were found to explain 41% of the variance in the treatment provider's responses on the "Addiction Belief Scale" (a scale measuring adherence to the disease model or the free-will model of addiction).

Cannabis use disorder is recognized in the fifth version of the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" (DSM-5), which added cannabis withdrawal as a new condition. In the United States, the average adult who seeks treatment has consumed cannabis for over 10 years almost daily and has actively attempted to quit six or more times.

, the mechanisms involved in the development of an exercise addiction, associated with the transition from healthy committed exercise to compulsive exercise, are unknown.

The consequences of oniomania, which may persist long after a spree, can be devastating, with marriages, long-term relationships, and jobs all feeling the strain. Further problems can include ruined credit history, theft or defalcation of money, defaulted loans, general financial trouble and in some cases bankruptcy or extreme debt, as well as anxiety and a sense of life spiraling out of control. The resulting stress can lead to physical health problems and ruined relationships, or even suicide.