A Food addiction, especially long-term, can result in negative consequences to all aspects of a person’s life, creating damaging and chronic symptoms.

A food addiction features compulsive overeating, such as binge eating behavior, as its core and only defining feature. There are several potential signs that a person may be suffering from compulsive overeating. Common behaviors of compulsive overeaters include eating alone, consuming food quickly, and gaining weight rapidly, and eating to the point of feeling sick to the stomach. Other signs include significantly decreased mobility and the withdrawal from activities due to weight gain. Emotional indicators can include feelings of guilt, a sense of loss of control, depression and mood swings.

Hiding consumption is an emotional indicator of other symptoms that could be a result of having a food addiction. Hiding consumption of food includes eating in secret; late at night while everybody else is asleep, in the car, and hiding certain foods until ready to consume in private. Other signs of hiding consumption are avoiding social interactions to eat the specific foods that are craved. Other emotional indicators are Inner guilt; which includes making up excuses to why the palatable food would be beneficial to consume, and then feeling guilty about it shortly after consuming.

Sense of loss of control is indicated in many ways which includes, going out of the way to obtain specific foods, spending unnecessary amounts of money on foods to satisfy cravings. Difficulty concentrating on things such as a job or career can indicate sense of loss of control by not being to organize thoughts leading to a decrease in efficiency. Other ways to indicate the sense of loss of control, are craving food despite being full. One may set rules to try to eat healthy but the cravings over rule and the rules are failed to be followed. One big indicator of loss of control due to food addiction is even though one knows they have a medical problem caused by the craved foods, they cannot stop consuming the foods, which can be detrimental to their health.

Food addiction has some physical signs and symptoms. Decreased energy; not being able to be as active as in the past, not being able to be as active as others around, also a decrease in efficiency due to the lack of energy. Having trouble sleeping; being tired all the time such as fatigue, oversleeping, or the complete opposite and not being able to sleep such as insomnia. Other physical signs and symptoms are restlessness, irritability, digestive disorders, and headaches.

In extreme cases food addiction can result in some suicidal thoughts.

A concrete classification of exercise addiction has proven to be difficult due to the lack of a specific and widely accepted diagnostic model. Most interpretations of addiction have traditionally been limited to drugs and alcohol, which makes it even more difficult to identify addictive tendencies in exercise. While excessive exercise is the overarching theme with exercise addiction, the term also includes a variety of symptoms like withdrawal, "exercise buzz", and impaired physical function. Excessive exercise has been classified in different ways; sometimes as an addiction and sometimes as a more general compulsive behavior. Psychiatric case studies have shown that exaggerated exercise could lead to negligence of work and family life. With an addiction, individuals become "hooked" to the feeling of euphoria and pleasure that exercise provides. This pleasure keeps the individual from stopping and leads to excessive exercise. With a compulsion people often do not necessarily enjoy repeating certain tasks, as they may feel like performing it will fulfill a duty that is required of them. There are many opinions on whether concrete diagnostic criteria should be created for this type of addiction. Some say preoccupation with exercise that causes significant impairment in a person's life, not due to another disorder, may be enough criteria to label this disorder. Others say there is not enough information about exercise addiction to develop diagnostic criteria. , the term "excessive exercise" continues to be used while the "exercise addiction" model continues to be debated.

Three main types of disorders are associated with excessive exercise:

1. Anorexia athletica (obligatory exercise) - When an individual feels compelled to exercise beyond the point of benefitting one's body. Individuals will participate in athletic activities regardless of pain, injury, illness, etc., and will try to arrange their lives in order to maximize workout time.

2. Exercise bulimia - When an individual has binge eating sessions that are followed by periods of high-intensity exercise.

3. Body dysmorphic disorder - When an individual is obsessed with parts of their body and perceive them to be different or odd. These individuals will create highly regimented routines in order to improve their perception of the "flawed" body part.

Five indicators of exercise addiction are:

1. An increase in exercise that may be labeled as detrimental, or becomes harmful.

2. A desire to experience euphoria; exercise may be increased as tolerance of the euphoric state increases.

3. Not participating in physical activity will cause in one's daily life.

4. Severe withdrawal symptoms following exercise deprivation including anxiety, restlessness, depression, guilt, tension, discomfort, loss of appetite, sleeplessness, and headaches.

5. Exercising through trauma and despite physical injuries.

Key differences between healthy and addictive levels of exercise include the presence of withdrawal symptoms when exercise is stopped as well as the addictive properties exercise may have leading to a dependence on exercise.

Problem gambling (or ludomania, but usually referred to as "gambling addiction" or "compulsive gambling") is an urge to gamble continuously despite harmful negative consequences or a desire to stop. Problem gambling is often defined by whether harm is experienced by the gambler or others, rather than by the gambler's behaviour. Severe problem gambling may be diagnosed as clinical pathological gambling if the gambler meets certain criteria. Pathological gambling is a common disorder that is associated with both social and family costs.

The "DSM-5" has re-classified the condition as an addictive disorder, with sufferers exhibiting many similarities to those who have substance addictions.

The term "gambling addiction" has long been used in the recovery movement. Pathological gambling was long considered by the American Psychiatric Association to be an impulse control disorder rather than an addiction. However, data suggest a closer relationship between pathological gambling and substance use disorders than exists between PG and obsessive-compulsive disorder, largely because the behaviors in problem gambling and most primary substance use disorders ("i.e.", those not resulting from a desire to "self-medicate" for another condition such as depression) seek to activate the brain's reward mechanisms while the behaviors characterizing obsessive-compulsive disorder are prompted by overactive and misplaced signals from the brain's fear mechanisms.

Problem gambling is an addictive behavior with a high comorbidity with alcohol problems. Comorbidity is the presence of one or more diseases or disorders co-occurring with each other. A common feature shared by people who suffer from gambling addiction is impulsivity.

Binge eating is a pattern of disordered eating which consists of episodes of uncontrollable eating. It is sometimes a symptom of binge eating disorder or compulsive overeating disorder. During such binges, a person rapidly consumes an excessive quantity of food. A diagnosis of binge eating is associated with feelings of loss of control.

Research by governments in Australia led to a universal definition for that country which appears to be the only research-based definition not to use diagnostic criteria: "Problem gambling is characterized by many difficulties in limiting money and/or time spent on gambling which leads to adverse consequences for the gambler, others, or for the community." The University of Maryland Medical Center defines pathological gambling as "being unable to resist impulses to gamble, which can lead to severe personal or social consequences".

Most other definitions of problem gambling can usually be simplified to any gambling that causes harm to the gambler or someone else in any way; however, these definitions are usually coupled with descriptions of the type of harm or the use of diagnostic criteria. The "DSM-V" has since reclassified pathological gambling as "gambling disorder" and has listed the disorder under substance-related and addictive disorders rather than impulse-control disorders. This is due to the symptomatology of the disorder resembling an addiction not dissimilar to that of substance-abuse. There are both environmental and genetic factors that can influence on gambler and cause some type of addiction. In order to be diagnosed, an individual must have at least four of the following symptoms in a 12-month period:

- Needs to gamble with increasing amounts of money in order to achieve the desired excitement

- Is restless or irritable when attempting to cut down or stop gambling

- Has made repeated unsuccessful efforts to control, cut back, or stop gambling

- Is often preoccupied with gambling (e.g., having persistent thoughts of reliving past gambling experiences, handicapping or planning the next venture, thinking of ways to get money with which to gamble)

- Often gambles when feeling distressed (e.g., helpless, guilty, anxious, depressed)

- After losing money gambling, often returns another day to get even ("chasing" one's losses)

- Lies to conceal the extent of involvement with gambling

- Has jeopardized or lost a significant relationship, job, education or career opportunity because of gambling

- Relies on others to provide money to relieve desperate financial situations caused by gambling

Binge eating disorder (BED) is an eating disorder characterized by frequent and recurrent binge eating episodes with associated negative psychological and social problems, but without subsequent purging episodes (e.g. vomiting).

BED is a recently described condition, which was required to distinguish binge eating similar to that seen bulimia nervosa but without characteristic purging. Individuals who are diagnosed with bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder exhibit similar patterns of compulsive overeating, neurobiological features of dysfunctional cognitive control and food addiction, and biological and environmental risk factors. Indeed, some consider BED a milder version of bulimia nervosa, and that the conditions are on the same spectrum.

Binge eating is one of the most prevalent eating disorders among adults, though there tends to be less media coverage and research about the disorder in comparison to anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.

Binge eating is the core symptom of BED; however, not everyone who binge eats has BED. An individual may occasionally binge eat without experiencing many of the negative physical, psychological, or social effects of BED. This example may be considered an eating problem (or not), rather than a disorder. Precisely defining binge eating can be problematic, however binge eating episodes in BED are generally described as having the following potential features:

- Eating much faster than normal during a binge perhaps in a short space of time

- Eating until feeling uncomfortably full

- Eating a large amount when not hungry

- Subjective loss of control over how much or what is eaten

- Binges may be planned in advance, involving the purchase of special binge foods, and the allocation of specific time for binging, sometimes at night

- Eating alone or secretly due to embarrassment over the amount of food consumed

- There may be a dazed mental state during the binge

- Not being able to remember what was eaten after the binge

- Feelings of guilt, shame or disgust following a food binge

In contrast to bulimia nervosa, binge eating episodes are not regularly followed by activities intended to prevent weight gain, such as self-induced vomiting, laxative or enema misuse, or strenuous exercise. BED is characterized more by overeating than dietary restriction and over concern about body shape. Obesity is common in persons with BED, as are depressive features, low self-esteem, stress and boredom.

Typically the eating is done rapidly and a person will feel emotionally numb and unable to stop eating.

Most people who have eating binges try to hide this behavior from others, and often feel ashamed about being overweight or depressed about their overeating. Although people who do not have any eating disorder may occasionally experience episodes of overeating, frequent binge eating is often a symptom of an eating disorder.

Binge-eating disorder, as the name implies, is characterized by uncontrollable, excessive eating, followed by feelings of shame and guilt. Unlike those with bulimia, those with binge-eating disorder symptoms typically do not purge their food, fast, or excessively exercise to compensate for binges. Additionally, these individuals tend to diet more often, enroll in weight-control programs and have a history of family obesity. However, many who have bulimia also have binge-eating disorder.

→Swollen of salivary glands lead to the change of facial shape

→If gastric juice is flown to the esophagus constantly, it will lead to a corrosion of the wall of esophagus(long term harmful effect)

→If gastric juice is flown to the oral cavity, it will lead to a corrosion of the oral tissue, dissolve the enamel and consequently cause the loss of teeth/increase chances for tooth decay

Bulimia typically involves rapid and out-of-control eating, which may stop when the bulimic is interrupted by another person or the stomach hurts from over-extension, followed by self-induced vomiting or other forms of purging. This cycle may be repeated several times a week or, in more serious cases, several times a day and may directly cause:

- Chronic gastric reflux after eating, secondary to vomiting

- Dehydration and hypokalemia due to renal potassium loss in the presence of alkalosis and frequent vomiting

- Electrolyte imbalance, which can lead to abnormal heart rhythms, cardiac arrest, and even death

- Esophagitis, or inflammation of the esophagus

- Mallory-Weiss tears

- Boerhaave syndrome, a rupture in the esophageal wall due to vomiting

- Oral trauma, in which repetitive insertion of fingers or other objects causes lacerations to the lining of the mouth or throat

- Russell's sign: calluses on knuckles and back of hands due to repeated trauma from incisors

- Perimolysis, or severe dental erosion of tooth enamel

- Swollen salivary glands (for example, in the neck, under the jaw line)

- Gastroparesis or delayed emptying

- Constipation

- Peptic ulcers

- Infertility

- Constant weight fluctuations are common

These are some of the many signs that may indicate whether someone has bulimia nervosa:

- A fixation on the number of calories consumed

- A fixation on and extreme consciousness of ones weight

- Low self-esteem and/or self harming

- Suicidal tendencies

- Low blood pressure

- An irregular menstrual cycle in woman

- Regular trips to the bathroom, especially soon after eating

- Depression, anxiety disorders and sleep disorders

- Frequent occurrences involving consumption of abnormally large portions of food

- The use of laxatives and diet pills

- Unhealthy/dry skin, hair, nails and lips

- A lack of energy

As with many psychiatric illnesses, delusions can occur, in conjunction with other signs and symptoms, leaving the person with a false belief that is not ordinarily accepted by others.

People with bulimia nervosa may also exercise to a point that excludes other activities.

Emotional eating is defined as overeating in order to relieve negative emotions. Thus, emotional eating is considered a maladaptive coping strategy. If an individual frequently engages in emotional eating, it can increase the risk of developing other eating disorders, like bulimia and anorexia nervosa. Research has also shown that the presence of an existing eating disorder increases the likelihood that an individual will engage in emotional eating. Given the relationship between serious eating disorders and emotional eating behavior, it is important for clinical psychologists and nutritionists to recognize the signs of emotional eating and provide individuals with treatment. Since emotional eating is utilized to manage negative emotions, treatment necessitates learning healthy and more effective coping strategies.

Behavioral addiction is a form of addiction that involves a compulsion to engage in a rewarding non-drug-related behavior – sometimes called a natural reward – despite any negative consequences to the person's physical, mental, social or financial well-being. A gene transcription factor known as ΔFosB has been identified as a necessary common factor involved in both behavioral and drug addictions, which are associated with the same set of neural adaptations in the reward system.

CBD is frequently comorbid with mood, anxiety, substance abuse and eating disorders. People who score highly on compulsive buying scales tend to understand their feelings poorly and have low tolerance for unpleasant psychological states such as bad moods. Onset of CBD occurs in the late teens and early twenties and is generally chronic. CBD is similar to, but distinguished from, OCD hoarding and mania. Compulsive buying is not limited to people who spend beyond their means; it also includes people who spend an inordinate amount of time shopping or who chronically think about buying things but never purchase them. Promising treatments for CBD include medication such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), and support groups such as Debtors Anonymous.

The terms compulsive shopping, compulsive buying, and compulsive spending are often used interchangeably, but the behaviors they represent are in fact distinct. (Nataraajan and Goff 1992) One may buy without shopping, and certainly shop without buying: of compulsive shoppers, some 30% described the act of buying itself as providing a buzz, irrespective of the goods purchased.

Bulimia nervosa can be difficult to detect, compared to anorexia nervosa, because bulimics tend to be of average or slightly above or below average weight. Many bulimics may also engage in significantly disordered eating and exercise patterns without meeting the full diagnostic criteria for bulimia nervosa. Recently, the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" was revised, which resulted in the loosening of criteria regarding the diagnoses of bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa. The diagnostic criteria utilized by the DSM-5 includes repetitive episodes of binge eating (a discrete episode of overeating during which the individual feels out of control of consumption) compensated for by excessive or inappropriate measures taken to avoid gaining weight. The diagnosis also requires the episodes of compensatory behaviors and binge eating to happen a minimum of once a week for a consistent time period of 3 months. The diagnosis is made only when the behavior is not a part of the symptom complex of anorexia nervosa and when the behavior reflects an overemphasis on physical mass or appearance. Purging often is a common characteristic of a more severe case of bulimia nervosa.

Compulsions and addictions are intertwined and reward is one major distinction between an addiction and a compulsion (as it is experienced in obsessive-compulsive disorder). An addiction is, by definition, a form of compulsion, and both addictions and compulsions involve operant reinforcement; however, in addiction, the desire and motivation to use a substance or engage in a behavior arises because it is rewarding (i.e., the compulsions that occur in addiction develop through positive reinforcement). In contrast, someone who experiences a compulsion as part of obsessive-compulsive disorder may not perceive anything rewarding from acting on the compulsion. Often, it is a way of dealing with the obsessive part of the disorder, resulting in a feeling of relief (i.e., compulsions may also arise through negative reinforcement).

Deep brain stimulation to the nucleus accumbens, a region in the brain involved heavily in addiction and reinforcement learning, has proven to be an effective treatment of obsessive compulsive disorder.

Shopping addiction is defined as the deficiency of impulse control which appears as the eagerness for constantly making new purchases of unnecessary or superfluous things. It is a concept similar to "compulsive buying disorder" and "oniomania", although these terms usually have a more clinical approach, related to a psychological individual disorder of impulse control. The phrase “shopping addiction” usually has a more psychosocial perspective . or it is placed among drug-free addictions like the addiction to gambling, Internet, or video-games.

Some of the fundamental components of kleptomania include recurring intrusive thoughts, impotence to resist the compulsion to engage in stealing, and the release of pressure following the act. These symptoms suggest that kleptomania could be regarded as an obsessive-compulsive type of disorder.

People diagnosed with kleptomania often have other types of disorders involving mood, anxiety, eating, impulse control, and drug use. They also have great levels of stress, guilt, and remorse, and privacy issues accompanying the act of stealing. These signs are considered to either cause or intensify general comorbid disorders. The characteristics of the behaviors associated with stealing could result in other problems as well, which include social segregation and substance abuse. The many types of other disorders frequently occurring along with kleptomania usually make clinical diagnosis uncertain.

There is a difference between ordinary theft and kleptomania: "ordinary theft (whether planned or impulsive) is deliberate and is motivated by the usefulness of the object or its monetary worth," whereas with kleptomania, there "is the recurrent failure to resist impulses to steal items even though the items are not needed for personal use or for their monetary value."

Trichotillomania is classified as compulsive picking of hair of the body. It can be from any place on the body that has hair. This picking results in bald spots. Most people who have mild Trichotillomania can overcome it via concentration and more self-awareness.

Those that suffer from compulsive skin picking have issues with picking, rubbing, digging, or scratching the skin. These activities are usually to get rid of unwanted blemishes or marks on the skin. These compulsions also tend to leave abrasions and irritation on the skin. This can lead to infection or other issues in healing. These acts tend to be prevalent in times of anxiety, boredom, or stress.

Compulsive behavior is defined as performing an act persistently and repetitively without it necessarily leading to an actual reward or pleasure. Compulsive behaviors could be an attempt to make obsessions go away. The act is usually a small, restricted and repetitive behavior, yet not disturbing in a pathological way. Compulsive behaviors are a need to reduce apprehension caused by internal feelings a person wants to abstain from or control. A major cause of the compulsive behaviors is said to be obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). "The main idea of compulsive behavior is that the likely excessive activity is not connected to the purpose to which it appears directed." Furthermore, there are many different types of compulsive behaviors including, shopping, hoarding, eating, gambling, trichotillomania and picking skin, checking, counting, washing, sex, and more. Also, there are cultural examples of compulsive behavior.

Addiction is defined by Webster Dictionary as a "compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance characterized by tolerance and by well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal; broadly: persistent compulsive use of a substance known by the user to be harmful".

Problematic Internet use is also called compulsive Internet use (CIU), Internet overuse, problematic computer use, or pathological computer use (PCU), problematic Internet use (PIU), or Internet addiction disorder (IAD)). Another commonly associated pathology is video game addiction, or Internet gaming disorder (IGD).

Compulsive hoarding in its worst forms can cause fires, unsanitary conditions (such as rat and roach infestations), and other health and safety hazards.

Listed below are possible symptoms hoarders may experience:

- They hold onto a large number of items that most people would consider useless or worthless, such as:

- Junk mail, old catalogs, magazines, and newspapers

- Worn out cooking equipment

- Things that might be useful for making crafts

- Clothes that might be worn one day

- Broken things or trash

- "Freebies" or other promotional products

- Their home is cluttered to the point where many parts are inaccessible and can no longer be used for intended purposes. For example:

- Beds that cannot be slept in

- Kitchens that cannot be used for food preparation

- Tables, chairs, or sofas that cannot be used for dining or sitting

- Unsanitary bathrooms

- Tubs, showers, and sinks filled with items and can no longer be used for washing or bathing.

- Their clutter and mess is at a point where it can cause illness, distress, and impairment. As a result, they:

- Do not allow visitors in, such as family and friends, or repair and maintenance professionals, because the clutter embarrasses them

- Are reluctant or unable to return borrowed items

- Keep the shades drawn so that no one can look inside

- Get into a lot of arguments with family members regarding the clutter

- Are at risk of fire, falling, infestation, or eviction

- Often feel depressed or anxious due to the clutter

Television addiction is a proposed addiction model associated with maladaptive or compulsive behavior associated with watching television programming. The most recent medical review on this model concluded that pathological television watching behavior may constitute a true behavioral addiction, but indicated that much more research on this topic is needed to demonstrate this. The compulsion can be extremely difficult to control in many cases. The television addiction model has parallels to other forms of behavioral addiction, such as addiction to drugs or gambling, which are also forms of compulsive behavior.

Television addiction is not a diagnosable condition of DSM-IV.

Kleptomania or klopemania is the inability to refrain from the urge for stealing items and is usually done for reasons other than personal use or financial gain. First described in 1816, kleptomania is classified in psychiatry as an impulse control disorder. Some of the main characteristics of the disorder suggest that kleptomania could be an obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorder.

The disorder is frequently under-diagnosed and is regularly associated with other psychiatric disorders, particularly anxiety and eating disorders, and alcohol and substance abuse. Patients with kleptomania are typically treated with therapies in other areas due to the comorbid grievances rather than issues directly related to kleptomania.

Over the last 100 years, a shift from psychotherapeutic to psychopharmacological interventions for kleptomania has occurred. Pharmacological treatments using selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), mood stabilizers and opioid receptor antagonists, and other antidepressants along with cognitive behavioral therapy, have yielded positive results.