This compulsion may also lead to several consequences in the individual's life, including risky partner selection, increased chance for STIs and depression, as well as unwanted pregnancy.

However, research conducted in the early 1990s in the United States gave prevalence estimates between 5–6% in the U.S. population, with male cases being higher than female.

It is characterized by excessive and damaging usage of Internet with increased amount of time spent chatting, web surfing, gambling, shopping or consuming pornography.

Excessive and problematic Internet use has been reported across all age, social, economic, and educational ranges.

The onset is believed to occur in late teens or early twenties and the disorder is considered to be generally chronic.

[4] Intermittent explosive disorder or IED is a clinical condition of experiencing recurrent aggressive episodes that are out of proportion of any given stressor.

[7][8][9][10] There is a significant co-occurrence of pathological gambling (PG) and personality disorder, and is suggested to be caused partly by their common "genetic vulnerability".

According to research, the 'impulsiveness' that occurs in the later stages of OCD is caused by progressive dysfunction of the ventral striatal circuit.

Fluoxetine, however, has produced positive results in the treatment of pathological skin picking disorder,[4][15] although more research is needed to conclude this information.

Fluoxetine has also been evaluated in treating IED and demonstrated significant improvement in reducing frequency and severity of impulsive aggression and irritability in a sample of 100 subjects who were randomized into a 14-week, double-blind study.

Another medication, escitalopram, has shown to improve the condition of the subjects of pathological gambling with anxiety symptoms.