The nosology of addiction as a medical condition: a concise history and review of contemporary perspectives

There is active scientific debate about the nature of addiction as a mental disorder, but with comparatively little discussion of nosology itself. To contribute to the ongoing dialogue, this review provides a concise history of the formal medical diagnoses used to define addiction clinically and vanguard contemporary perspectives. The history of addiction as a medical diagnosis starts at the beginning of the 20th century in the first …