Pathologization of everyday life as behavioral addiction

The pathologization of normal everyday activities as behavioral addiction has followed a general trend of pathologizing human suffering and distress. Two forms of pathologization in this realm are outlined. First, “new” behavioral addictions have been created based on the notion that certain normal activities are addictive when people are engaged in them excessively. Second, there has been a lowering of the threshold for considering some behaviors pathological, often in combination with use of the diagnostic criteria that do not necessarily denote addiction. As primarily a social process, pathologization reflects the dominant social trends. Various stakeholders, including clinicians, researchers, afflicted individuals and their families, have wittingly or unwittingly fostered pathologization. The key negative consequence of the pathologization of normal behavior is the stigmatization of that behavior, which promotes moral panic. Another concerning consequence is subjecting to therapeutic interventions people with “excessive”, but otherwise normal behavioral involvement. Inclusion of normal behavioral patterns within behavioral addiction diagnoses has made these psychopathological entities too heterogeneous and undermined their validity. Pathologization can be countered by raising awareness of it and by prioritizing the development of valid definitions of addiction and behavioral addiction and research on better demarcation between normal and pathological activity engagement.