Dissociative Phenomena and Behavioral Addictions: a Systematic Review

Background: Behavioral addictions are increasingly recognized as clinically relevant conditions; however, the role of dissociative phenomena in their development and maintenance remains fragmented and insufficiently systematized. Previous reviews have mainly focused on single forms of behavioral addiction (e.g., gambling or gaming), leaving a lack of an integrated perspective across different addictive behaviors. Objective: This systematic review aims to synthesize and integrate empirical evidence on the role of dissociative phenomena, across their diverse operationalizations, in behavioral addictions, with specific reference to gambling, problematic gaming, problematic internet use, problematic social media use, and problematic smartphone use. Methods: The review is conducted in accordance with the PRISMA 2020 guidelines. Quantitative empirical studies with cross-sectional or longitudinal designs conducted on clinical and non-clinical populations were considered eligible if they examined the association between dissociative phenomena (e.g., dissociation, depersonalization, derealization, absorption, amnesia, immersion) and behavioral addictions. Searches were performed in Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed. Methodological quality of the included studies will be assessed using a checklist adapted from the Quality Assessment Tool for Quantitative Studies and the STROBE guidelines. Results: Study selection is currently ongoing. The expected results include a systematic mapping of the different conceptualizations and measures of dissociative phenomena and a synthesis of the empirical evidence regarding their association with behavioral addictions.