youssef-definingcompulsive-2019.pdf (267.4 kB)
Defining compulsive behavior
journal contribution
posted on 2019-03-01, 00:00 authored by Judy Luigjes, Valentina Lorenzetti, Sanneke de Haan, George YoussefGeorge Youssef, Carsten Murawski, Zsuzsika Sjoerds, Wim van den Brink, Damiaan Denys, Leonardo F Fontenelle, Murat YücelCompulsive tendencies are a central feature of problematic human behavior and thereby are of great interest to the scientific and clinical community. However, no consensus exists about the precise meaning of 'compulsivity,' creating confusion in the field and hampering comparison across psychiatric disorders. A vague conceptualization makes compulsivity a moving target encompassing a fluctuating variety of behaviors, which is unlikely to improve the new dimension-based psychiatric or psychopathology approach. This article aims to help progress the definition of what constitutes compulsive behavior, cross-diagnostically, by analyzing different definitions in the psychiatric literature. We searched PubMed for articles in human psychiatric research with 'compulsive behavior' or 'compulsivity' in the title that focused on the broader concept of compulsivity-returning 28 articles with nine original definitions. Within the definitions, we separated three types of descriptive elements: phenomenological, observational and explanatory. The elements most applicable, cross-diagnostically, resulted in this definition: Compulsive behavior consists of repetitive acts that are characterized by the feeling that one 'has to' perform them while one is aware that these acts are not in line with one's overall goal. Having a more unified definition for compulsive behavior will make its meaning precise and explicit, and therefore more transferable and testable across clinical and non-clinical populations.
History
Journal
Neuropsychology reviewVolume
29Issue
1Pagination
4 - 13Publisher
SpringerLocation
New York, N.Y.Publisher DOI
Link to full text
eISSN
1573-6660Language
engPublication classification
C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journalCopyright notice
2019, The Author(s)Usage metrics
Categories
No categories selectedKeywords
Licence
Exports
RefWorks
BibTeX
Ref. manager
Endnote
DataCite
NLM
DC