[PSY]

Jenny, a member of the Articles Team, has brought up some wonderful ideas for writing articles about various addictions and impulsive behaviors! After some discussion and brainstorming, I've come up with more concrete ideas about where we could go with these articles. If you're interested in writing (or co-writing) one of these articles, please state your interest here! Once you have a rough draft, you're welcome to create a new thread, so we can more easily keep track of which articles are in the "brainstorming" stage and which articles are in the "rough/final draft" stage.

1. Alcohol and Drug Addictions
We currently have one article on alcoholism, one article that briefly addresses various drugs, and another article that talks about using drugs/alcohol at parties. We haven't talked about nicotine, which is a drug commonly used by teens, so an article on smoking tobacco could be a great way to fill in the gaps! If you'd like to write an article about a specific drug, that could also be a great addition to the Substance Abuse section of our Articles database. Finally, I was thinking about writing an article that briefly explains how substance abuse occurs, and why it's so difficult for people to quit. If anyone is interested in co-writing that article with me, please state your interest here!

2. Internet Gaming Disorder
Internet Gaming Disorder is not listed as a "formal" diagnosis in the recently released DSM-5. With that being said, I think this article would be of interest to our community, and it could encompass elements such as social networking websites and online video games. The author of this article could summarize the research that's been done, look into support groups for people addicted to the internet/Facebook/video games/etc., and offer general tips for fighting these specific problems.

3. Pathological Gambling
Pathological gambling is a recognized impulse control disorder, and could go under Addictive Behaviors. This could also touch upon internet gambling - it's now easier than ever to blow money, when you don't have to go to Vegas or another area in the country where it's legal to gamble.

4. Managing Impulsive Behaviors
We could go in a few directions with this article. We could talk about mania/manic episodes, and how they can lead to impulsive decisions. There are certainly medical/pharmaceutical and therapeutic components to treating mania, which could be an article in of itself. There are also people who struggle with self-discipline, though, who don't necessarily struggle with mental disorders. I think it would be interesting if someone wrote an article on managing non-clinical impulsive behaviors, such as how to make and follow a budget when someone has a habit of going on shopping sprees or making poor decisions with purchases. This article could probably fall under the Lifestyle category (due to the financial aspect), but let's brainstorm here first and move it over to the Lifestyle category later on if it seems to be a better fit there.