Exercise dependence and associated disorders: A review

While the term exercise addiction has been largely rejected in favour of, for example, exercise dependence, the association of exercise with addiction stems from Glasser (1976) who differentiated between positive and negative addiction to running, being analogous to commitment and dependence, respectively. There are a number of possible explanations for exercise dependence, the more popular being based upon endorphin production and on personality. A key issue for research is to determine the threshold between commitment and dependence; that is, how much exercise is necessary to benefit mental health, and how much is too much? In addition, a holistic approach incorporating biological, social and situation-specific, as well as psychological factors, is supported in order to explain further the reasons for an exercise-dependent lifestyle. While ‘compulsive athleticism” (Yam et al., 1994) presents a cause for concern, and although it is not yet possible to identify, unequivocally the antecedents of this behaviour, it is proposed that a counselling approach to the problem of exercise dependence and associated negative self-perception may be timely.