Objectives.

This study aims to review advances in pharmacotherapy for behavioural addictions, focusing primarily on findings from systematic reviews of literature and meta-analyses.

Literature review.

The current DSM-5 and ICD-11 classifications included some behavioural addictions, assigning them either to the group of addictive disorders (e.g., gambling and gaming disorder) or to other categories of disorders. However, the conceptualisation of the majority of behavioural addictions remains unsatisfactory.

Conclusions.

The review of pharmacotherapy outcomes for this group of disorders highlighted its limited or inconsistent effectiveness. The relatively best results were achieved using opioid receptor antagonists, particularly for gambling disorder; however, these outcomes were worse than those observed with psychotherapy. The paper also presents research directions aimed at improving the effectiveness of pharmacotherapy.