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Review
. 2019 Mar;29(1):4-13.
doi: 10.1007/s11065-019-09404-9. Epub 2019 Apr 23.

Defining Compulsive Behavior

Judy Luigjes  1   2 , Valentina Lorenzetti  3 , Sanneke de Haan  4 , George J Youssef  5   6 , Carsten Murawski  7 , Zsuzsika Sjoerds  8   9 , Wim van den Brink  10 , Damiaan Denys  10   11 , Leonardo F Fontenelle  12   13   14 , Murat Yücel  12
Affiliations
Review

Defining Compulsive Behavior

Judy Luigjes et al. Neuropsychol Rev. 2019 Mar.

Abstract

Compulsive 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.

Keywords: Compulsivity; Definition; Observational perspective; Phenomenology.

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Conflict of interest statement

Drs Luigjes, Lorenzetti, de Haan, Youssef, Fontenelle, Murawski, Sjoerds, van den Brink, Denys and Yucel report no competing interests.

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