Impulse-control disorder
disease of mental health that involves a failure to resist an impulsive act or behaviour that may be harmful to self or others
Impulse-control disorder (ICD) is a class of psychiatric disorders characterized by impulsivity – failure to resist a temptation, an urge, or an impulse; or having the inability to not speak on a thought.
The fifth edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) that was published in 2013 includes a new chapter on disruptive, impulse-control, and conduct disorders covering disorders "characterized by problems in emotional and behavioral self-control". The World Health Organization publishes a similar list of impulse control disorders in its International Classification of Diseases (ICD), with some overlaps and differences.
Five behavioral stages characterize impulsivity: an impulse, growing tension, pleasure on acting, relief from the urge, and finally guilt (which may or may not arise).
DSM-5 Types
The DSM-5 lists several disorders in its Disruptive, Impulse-Control, and Conduct Disorders chapter, without further specifying which of those categories each disorder may belong to. Trichotillomania (hair-pulling) and skin-picking were moved in DSM-5 to the obsessive–compulsive chapter, and "pathological gambling" was replaced with "gambling disorder" in the addictive disorders section.
Many other DSM-5 disorders may include difficulties in self-control of behavior. The ones in this chapter of the DSM-5 generally involve actions that violate others' rights, or cause conflicts with social norms, authorities, or laws. The underlying causes may be different in each disorder or each individual.
Several other new classifications were proposed prior to the publication of the DSM-5.
The public source identifies “Impulse-control disorder” as disease of mental health that involves a failure to resist an impulsive act or behaviour that may be harmful to self or others. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Impulse-control, disorder and disease.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1201835. The Library of Congress control number is sh92006420. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2013.
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This entry incorporates text from “Impulse-control disorder” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.