Addiction Spectrum Disorder: A Conceptual Framework for Understanding Addictive Disorders

This paper proposes a unified spectrum framework for understanding addiction by integrating substance use disorders, behavioral addictions, and food addiction as related conditions sharing common neurobiological mechanisms. The model identifies three key components: negative reinforcement driving compulsive seeking, cue-induced responses mediated by associative learning, and food addiction as an intermediate phenotype bridging substance and behavioral addictions.