Gambling, Binge Eating Are Illnesses, Docs Say

Do you think you have an Internet addiction? It's probably not a mental illness. On the other hand, compulsive gambling is a disorder much like drug addiction.

Those are a couple of conclusions in a draft copy of an influential guidebook on mental disorders. The book is being compiled by the American Psychiatric Association and will play an important part in deciding what conditions insurers cover, how doctors treat symptoms, and what drugs pharmaceutical companies develop and market.

The association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders doesn't get updated very often. The last edition was published in 1994. So the final draft will be extremely important for diagnosis and treatment over the next decade. A group of 160 doctors has been working on the draft (made public today) for a decade. The document is available for public viewing and comments until April 20.

Among the proposed changes: a new category of behavioral addictions in which gambling is listed as the sole disorder. Internet addiction was considered for the same category, but the docs decided there wasn't enough research to support it. They do, however, recommend further study.

Some of the other highlights in the guidelines include:

A new category to diagnose children with severe mood swings so they don't automatically get diagnosed as bipolar. This has huge ramifications for treatment of kids with prescription drugs.

A childhood condition called Asperger syndrome would be folded into a broader category to be known as autism spectrum disorders.

Binge eating would be considered a disorder.

The categories of substance abuse and dependence would be replaced with a new category called addiction and related disorders. The idea is to differentiate people with true drug addictions versus those having withdrawal symptoms from being taken off prescription medicines.

The draft also proposes new ways to identify teens and adults for suicide risk, including monitoring impulsive behavior and heavy drinking.