PERSPECTIVE Impulse control disorders and “behavioural addictions ” in the ICD-11

Psychiatric classifications have traditionally recognized a number of conditions as representing impulse control dis-orders. These have included pathological gambling, inter-mittent explosive disorder, kleptomania, pyromania, and trichotillomania. In 1992, theWorldHealthOrganization (WHO) described habit and impulse disorders (F63) as characterized by repeat-ed acts that have no clear rational motivation, generally harm the person’s own interests and those of other people, and are associatedwith impulses the person experiences as uncontrol-lable (1). In DSM-IV-TR, the American Psychiatric Associa-tion further characterized these impulse control disorders as being preceded by a rise in tension before the behaviour or when resisting the behaviour, and followed by pleasure, grati-fication, or relief of tension (2)