“The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.”
— Samuel Johnson
Content Outline
Module Content
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Many everyday behaviours—such as gaming, internet use, social media, gambling, shopping, or pornography use—are enjoyable and harmless for most people. However, when these behaviours become repetitive, difficult to control, and continue despite causing harm, they may develop into behavioural addictions. Like substance use disorders, behavioural addictions involve impaired control, craving, and significant consequences for mental health, relationships, education, work, and overall well-being. This primer provides an evidence-based introduction to understanding, identifying, assessing, and managing behavioural addictions in healthcare and community settings.
Module Overview
Behavioural addictions are increasingly recognised as an important public health concern. Excessive engagement in activities such as gaming, gambling, social media, internet use, and online shopping can lead to significant impairment in mental health, relationships, education, work, and overall well-being. Recent evidence suggests that problematic digital behaviours are associated with increased risks of depression, anxiety, sleep disturbances, and reduced quality of life (WHO, 2022; Fineberg et al., 2022).
This foundation primer provides an evidence-based introduction to behavioural addictions, covering their nature, risk factors, assessment, and management. Through interactive learning, case-based discussions, and practical exercises, learners will develop the knowledge and skills to recognise behavioural addictions early, provide brief interventions, and facilitate appropriate referral and support.
Target Audience
This primer is intended for healthcare and allied professionals, including counsellors, psychologists, psychiatrists, medical officers, nurses, social workers, and educators. It is also appropriate for postgraduate trainees (MD/DM) and individuals interested in building a strong foundation in behavioural addiction.
Learning Objectives
- Define behavioural addiction and differentiate it from habitual engagement, excessive use or impulse-control disorders.
- Trace the historical evolution of the field and describe current classification of behavioural addictions in ICD-11 and DSM-5-TR.
- Describe the biopsychosocial (I-PACE) model of behavioural addiction, integrating neurobiological, psychological and social factors.
- Identify diagnostic features, motivations, risk factors and impact of gambling disorder and gaming disorder, including the Indian context (history and evolution of gambling specific to India).
- Describe the emerging evidence, classification status and clinical features of compulsive sexual behaviour disorder / problematic pornography use, compulsive buying-shopping disorder, and problematic social media use.
- Recognise warning signs and apply basic screening and assessment principles and tools across all five conditions.
- Apply core principles of psychological management (motivational interviewing, CBT, mindfulness-based approaches) and describe role of available pharmacotherapy.
- Discuss prevention frameworks, public health approaches, and strategies to reduce stigma relevant to the Indian context.
Instructional Design
Please read the following notes carefully to ensure you have dedicated time before enrolling in this module.
| Certificate Module | Primer on Behavioural Addiction |
| Learning Level | Builds competency across knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Learners will acquire foundational knowledge of behavioural addictions, understand current concepts, diagnostic classifications and theoretical models, develop practical skills in screening, early identification, assessment and management, and cultivate a non-judgemental, evidence-based approach to working with individuals experiencing behavioural addictions. |
| Learning Modality | Self-paced online asynchronous learning via the NIMHANS e-Learning platform. Participants need to complete each lesson, all topics within the lesson, and successfully pass the lesson quiz (≥80%) before progressing to the next lesson. Estimated engagement: 1.5–2 hours per lesson across 5 lessons. Access duration: 30 days from the date of enrolment. |
| Module Structure | 5 Lessons | 17 Topics | 5 Quizzes with Short Essay | 1 Pre-module Survey | 1 Post-module Feedback | Approximately 8 Hours* Lesson 1: Foundations—Concepts, History and Classification of Behavioural Addictions (4 Topics) Lesson 2: Gambling Disorder (3 Topics) Lesson 3: Gaming Disorder (3 Topics) Lesson 4: Emerging Behavioural Addictions (4 Topics) Lesson 5: Overall Principles—Management, Prevention and Public Health (3 Topics) |
| Practice | Focuses on applying knowledge to real-world situations through case-based learning. Learners develop practical competencies in early identification, providing psychoeducation, understanding evidence-based management principles, promoting prevention, reducing stigma, and making appropriate referrals within healthcare and community settings. |
| Recognition and Assessment | Builds learners’ ability to identify behavioural addictions by recognising clinical features, warning signs, risk factors, and associated impairments. Emphasises the use of basic screening approaches and assessment principles across gambling disorder, gaming disorder, and emerging behavioural addictions. |
| Duration of Access | 30 days from the date of enrolment. |
| Professional Development Certificate | Upon completion of all lesson quizzes with a score of ≥80%, participants can download an e-Certificate of Achievement displaying their score. Three attempts are allowed for each quiz. Quizzes assess applied understanding through scenario-based and reflective questions, rather than rote recall. |
| Suggested Citation | NIMHANS eLearning, Centre for Addiction Medicine & Virtual Knowledge Network, NIMHANS, Bengaluru, India. Primer on Behavioural Addictions Available from: https://nimhanselearning.org/courses/primer-on-behavioural-addictions/ |
| Copyright Information | This license requires that reusers give credit to the creator. It allows reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, for non-commercial purposes only. https://nimhanselearning.org/courses/primer-on-behavioural-addictions/ © 2024 by Virtual Knowledge Network, Centre for Addiction Medicine & NIMHANS Digital Academy is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0     |
| First Edition | July 2026 |
| Funding and Support | A collaboration between NIMHANS and Mental Health Institute, Odisha Digital Academy for Mental Health, SCB Medical College Cuttack, Dept of Health and Family Welfare, Govt of Odisha and Gujarat Digital Academy, Gujarat Institute of Mental Health (GIMH), Ahmedabad. |
| Connect with us | vk*@********ns.in It will take 48 hours to respond to the relevant queries related to technical issues. |
| FAQS | 1. Is this an accredited course? This is a professional development certification module from the Centre for Addiction Medicine & NIMHANS Digital Academy and is NOT a formally accredited academic course. This e-learning module is recognised as a professional development module by the NIMHANS Board of Studies, 15th and 17th from CAM. 2. How do I get the Certificate of Completion? Complete all lesson quizzes with a score of ≥80%. Three attempts are available for each quiz. Download the e-Certificate of Achievement after successfully completing all requirements. 3. Do I need to complete lessons in order? Yes, you need to complete each topics in lesson and clear its quiz to move on to the next lesson. |
| Team (Planning, developer, Designer, Faculty, Technical support, Reviewers) Advisors: LINK | Centre for Addiction Medicine, Virtual Knowledge Network and NIMHANS Digital Academy National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore, India KNOW OUR TEAM |