Rethinking addiction: Technological advances, mechanistic insights, and the re-evaluation of substance use disorders

The term “addiction” is often used to refer to a clinical diagnosis of a substance use disorder; a state characterized by an intense motivation to consume drugs of abuse (e.g. opioids, psychostimulants, sedative-hypnotics) that negatively impacts an individual’s physical, mental and social health. Recent revisions of diagnostic guidelines have expanded the definition of substance use disorders to incorporate non-drug reward-seeking behaviors like chronic gambling. This shifting definition of substance use disorders and addiction parallels a growing appreciation that addiction-like maladaptive behaviors can be targeted to a number of reward stimuli, including screen time, sex, physical activity, and increasingly food. Indeed, it is not unusual to hear references to “food addiction,” “screen addiction,” “sex addiction,” or “sports addiction” in the popular press.
While this reflects the spread of scientific concepts in society, it also underscores the centrality of maladaptive behavioral patterns, not the use of psychotropic substances, in the diagnosis and manifestation of use disorders. However, his expanding classification risks oversimplification and can have serious consequences, misleading individuals about their conditions and creating misconceptions about treatment approaches, implying that all so-called “addictions” require similar interventions.

Today, technological advances have significantly deepened our understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the behavioral conditions that define substance use disorders (SUDs). Biosensors and optical systems for in vivo monitoring of calcium, neurotransmitters, and neuromodulators are revealing the intricate interactions between established brain circuits implicated in SUDs—such as the opioid and dopaminergic pathways—and natural rewarding behaviors such as food intake. Moreover, evolving “omics-based” approaches (e.g. connectomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics, genomics, and proteomics) have enhanced our ability to analyze complex biological processes at an unprecedented level of detail exploring biomarkers in SUDs and biological underpinnings of addiction.
These insights present an opportunity to critically re-evaluate the classification and ultimately treatment of addiction-like behaviors: Do shared neurobiological features justify grouping behavioral addictions with substance-related disorders, or should some be reclassified under compulsive disorders?
Addressing this distinction is crucial for refining diagnostic criteria and optimizing treatment strategies.

The objective of this Research Topic is to bring together studies investigating how recent technological and analytical advancements are moving towards reshaping our understanding of addiction and examine whether this justifies a re-evaluation of specific behavioral conditions within this framework.

The collection will be structured around three key themes:

1. Neurobiological mechanisms and future directions:
• How have emerging technologies enhanced our understanding of the neurobiological underpinnings of addiction?
• What research priorities should be addressed in the future to fine-tune classification, diagnosis, and treatment?

2. Advancements in addiction research:
• How and which technological breakthroughs in neuroscience, genetics, and behavioral modeling contributed to new conceptual insights into addiction?
• What are the short-term perspectives in addiction research?

3. Redefining addiction:
• To what extent does new evidence challenge existing classifications?
• Does this justify revising the DSM list of Substance-Related and Addictive Disorders?
• Are there behavioral patterns such as compulsive sexual behavior that should be reconsidered under the addiction framework?

We welcome all types of articles that would specifically consider male/female differences in SUDs addressing, but not limited to, the following:

• Evidence of newly developed experimental tools and methods that expand our understanding of addiction: application and use of biosensors, novel tracking systems for precise behavioral assessments in the context of SUDs, and development of new models of SUDs.
• The impact of sex and gender differences shaping addiction risk, disorder progression, and treatment outcomes. Sex-based differences in dopamine response, withdrawal, and relapse risk as a tool to inform classification and treatment strategies.
• Reviews assessing DSM-V criteria for addictions; focus on compulsive disorders (food, sex, sport, et al.), notably the concept of “food addiction”.
• Reviews, opinions, and perspectives on how recent technological advances in neuroscience could reshape our understanding of addiction.
• Perspectives on the future of SUDs: what are the next steps in addiction research and what is needed to tackle and develop research outputs?

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Systematic Review

Keywords: substance use disorders, methods, biosensors, optical sensors, addiction, opioid pathway, dopaminergic pathway

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.