APA Dictionary of Psychology

any disorder in which the individual feels forced to perform acts that are against their wishes or better judgment. The act may be associated with an experience of pleasure or gratification (e.g., compulsive gambling, drinking, or drug taking) or with the reduction of anxiety or distress (e.g., rituals in obsessive-compulsive disorder). See intermittent explosive disorder; kleptomania; paraphilia; pathological gambling; pyromania; substance abuse; trichotillomania. See also impulse-control disorder.