Nasal spray addiction: further thoughts and observations – a qualitative analysis of addiction components in “rhinitis medicamentosa” by Lakatos et al. (2025). Commentary to the debate: “Does nose spray addiction exist?”

Griffiths, MD

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Nasal spray addiction: further thoughts and observations – a qualitative analysis of addiction components in “rhinitis medicamentosa” by Lakatos et al. (2025). Commentary to the debate: “Does nose spray addiction exist?”

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Griffiths, MD ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8880-6524, 2026. Nasal spray addiction: further thoughts and observations – a qualitative analysis of addiction components in “rhinitis medicamentosa” by Lakatos et al. (2025). Commentary to the debate: “Does nose spray addiction exist?”. Journal of Behavioral Addictions. ISSN 2062-5871

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1556/2006.2025.00431

Abstract

The recently published study by Lakatos et al. (2025) interviewed 20 individuals with rhinitis medicamentosa, and examined if nasal spray addiction existed by applying the components of addiction (i.e., looking for examples of salience, tolerance, mood modification, withdrawal, conflict, and relapse) in their interview transcripts. The authors claimed to have found evidence for all six components. In this commentary on the paper by Lakatos et al. (2025), I argue that the examples cited as evidence for the presence of addiction components is questionable in a number of instances, particularly in relation to conflict, as well as to mood modification, relapse, and salience. There was also little evidence that any of the consequences of nasal spray overuse were persistent (i.e., lasting over 12 months).

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Journal of Behavioral Addictions
Creators:	Griffiths, M.D.
Publisher:	Akademiai Kiado Zrt.
Date:	22 April 2026
ISSN:	2062-5871
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1556/2006.2025.00431 DOI 2620365 Other
Rights:	© 2026 The Author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium for non-commercial purposes, provided the original author and source are credited, a link to the CC License is provided, and changes– if any– are indicated.
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	Laura Borcherds
Date Added:	23 Apr 2026 08:45
Last Modified:	23 Apr 2026 08:45
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/55596