Impulse Control Disorders

In the last decade, much needed attention and research has been focused on the group of psychiatric conditions termed “impulse control disorders” or ICDs. Pathological gambling, compulsive shopping, kleptomania, hypersexuality, Internet “addiction,” among other disorders, are characterized by a recurrent urge to perform a repetitive behavior that is gratifying in the moment but causes significant long-term distress and disability. Despite the high rate of co-morbidity with obsessive compuls...