Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40212036›Full record

ReviewAddictive behaviors reports2025

Self-discontinuity in behavioral addictions: A psychodynamic framework.

Gianluca Santoro, Alessandro Musetti, Antonino Costanzo, Adriano Schimmenti

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Addictive behaviors reports, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
11citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Review
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. The Relationship Between Childhood Trauma and Shame: The Mediating Role of Dissociation.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2025
    Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Gianluca SantoroDepartment of Humanities, Social Sciences and Cultural Industries, University of Parma, 43121 Parma, Italy.
Alessandro MusettiDepartment of Humanities, Social Sciences and Cultural Industries, University of Parma, 43121 Parma, Italy.
Antonino CostanzoDepartment of Human and Social Sciences, UKE-Kore University of Enna, 94100 Enna, Italy.
Adriano SchimmentiDepartment of Human and Social Sciences, UKE-Kore University of Enna, 94100 Enna, Italy.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Models based on substance use criteria have been employed to classify maladaptive engagement in various everyday activities as genuine addictions. However, symptom-based models have potential limitations, which includes in some cases reduced clinical utility and an increased risk of diagnostic inflation. The current article presents an alternative psychodynamic theoretical framework to elucidate the psychological processes underlying the development of putative behavioral addictions. According to this framework, behavioral addictions are conceptualized as strategies for regulating overwhelming feelings rooted in childhood trauma. Exposure to childhood trauma may lead to the segregation of unbearable trauma-related mental states from awareness through persistent dissociative processes. Thus, behavioral addictions may provide individuals with an illusory sense of control over unbearable feelings while simultaneously reinforcing the segregation of trauma-related mental states. The compulsive engagement in such activities can be seen as an attempt at self-medication, though it ultimately exacerbates discontinuities in self-experience. This theoretical framework is further illustrated through a clinical vignette, highlighting its implications for both assessment and treatment.

Indexed as

Addictive behaviorsChildhood traumaDissociationPsychodynamicsSelf-medication hypothesis

Identifiers

PMID40212036
PMCPMC11984577

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.