a disorder characterized by a failure to resist impulses, drives, or temptations to commit acts that are harmful to oneself or to others. Examples include intermittent explosive disorder, kleptomania, pathological gambling, pyromania, and trichotillomania. Other disorders that may involve problems of impulse control include substance use disorders, paraphilias, conduct disorders, and mood disorders.
adj. describing values or measurements that cannot be meaningfully summarized through addition because the resulting total does not correctly reflect the underlying properties of and associations between the component values. For example, if two variables a and b interact to influence another variable y, the addition of the separate effects of a and b will not equal the total effect since the contribution of the interaction needs to be included. Compare additive.