Behavioral science experts believe that all entities capable of stimulating a person can be addictive, and whenever a habit changes into an obligation, it can be considered an addiction. Drug addictions and behavioral addiction diagnostic symptoms have several similarities and differences.
Behavioral addiction, such as internet addiction, is similar to drug addiction except that in the former, the individual is not addicted to a substance but to the behavior or the feeling brought about by the relevant action.
In addition, the physical signs of drug addiction are absent in behavioral addiction. Others have stated that behaviorally addicted individuals have specific symptoms and will undergo the same consequences brought about by addiction to alcohol and drugs and other obsessive behaviors.
The idea that true addictions can exist even in the absence of psychotropic drugs (behavioral addictions) was popularized by Peele. According to Peele, addicted individuals depend on a particular set of experiences, of which the reactions to a specific chemical substance are only one example.
From a neurobiological point of view, behavioral addictions that only indirectly affect the brain's neurotransmitter systems can serve as reinforcers comparable to pharmacological substances that directly affect these systems.
Indeed, recent findings support the assumption of common mechanisms that underlie the development and maintenance of both behavioral and substance-related addiction.