Impulse Control Disorders: Gender and Sex Differences

Impulse control disorders (ICDs) include multiple disorders involving impulses to act that are poorly controlled. According to the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th Revision, ICDs (formally Habit and Impulse Disorders) include pathological gambling, pathological firesetting (pyromania), pathological stealing (kleptomania), trichotillomania, other habit and impulse disorders including intermittent explosive disorder (IED), and unspecified habit and impulse disorders. However, the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, has renamed pathological gambling as gambling disorder and reclassified it as a Substance-Related and Addictive Disorder; trichotillomania was reclassified as an Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorder. This entry summarizes the sex and gender differences in prevalence, potential causes, and treatment-seeking behaviors in individuals with ICDs.

Sex and gender differences are important ...

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