Pathological gambling and suicide

People with gambling problems are not only at risk financially they are also far more likely to kill themselves. 5% of people who kill themselves are pathological gamblers and gamblers are three times more likely to kill themselves than people who don't bet. Researchers from the Universite de Montreal studied 122 suicides which took place between 2006 and 2009, 49 of whom were pathological gamblers. The gamblers had twice as many personality disorders as the other suicides and were three times less likely to seek help before they killed themselves.

Impulsiveness and gambling: from the kindergarten to the casino

Being impulsive as a child is associated with a number of problems later in life including delinquency and dropping out of school and mental-health and addiction problems in adulthood and now a Canadian study of 163 children has suggested that it could also be linked to problem gambling. The children's nursery teachers were interviewed about their inattentiveness, distractibility and hyperactivity and then the children were followed up six years later and asked whether they played cards, bought lottery tickets or gambled with friends. An increase of one point on the scale used to measure impulsiveness in the children at nursery was linked to a 25% increase in gambling involvement by year 6. People who start gambling in adolescence are more likely to have severe gambling problems as adults.

You can find out more about this research at

http://uk.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUKTRE52165S20090302?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews&sp=true

Older gamblers' other problems

There has been a steady increase in gambling over the last few years with a deregulation of betting shops, state lotteries and online gambling. The growth in gambling participation has included older adults who have more time on their hands and, if they are lucky, a good disposable income. 35% of older adults reported lifetime gambling in 1975, a figure that had increased to 80% by 1998. In 1975 23% reported having gambled in the past year compared to 50% in 1998. The increase in gambling behaviour among older adults was more dramatic than in all other age groups. While most older adults gamble for recreation and do so responsibly a minority develop problem gambling or pathological gambling. A survey of 40 older adults with lifetime pathological gambling in Illinois and Iowa used established mental-health screening tools to see what other mental-health problems they might have. The results indicated a high level of other mental illnesses including depression, alcohol dependence, panic disorder, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive and avoidant personality disorders.

Kerber, Cindy Sullivan, Black, Donald W. and Buckwater, Kathleen - Comorbid psychiatric disorders among older recovering pathological gamblers. Issues in Mental Health Nursing 2008, 29(9), 1018-1028

Naltrexone for gambling problems

It is estimated that between 1 and 3% of the population has a gambling problem. The principal treatments for gambling problems are usually psychological but a new study by researchers at the University of Minnesota has found that a drug usually used to treat alcoholism can also help gamblers. The study, of people between the ages of 18 and 75 who gambled between six and thirty-two hours a week, compared the drug naltrexone to a placebo. By the end of the 18-week trial 40% of those taking naltrexone had quit gambling for at least a month, compared to only 10% of those taking the placebo. Naltrexone had few side effects and was equally effective in men and women.

You can find out more about this research at

http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/06/16/alcoholism-drug-helps-pathological-gamblers/2464.html

Internet gambling - worse than the traditional way?

Modern-day gambling is a very profitable business with many different and varied new ways to take part in gambling activities such as gambling via the Internet, mobile phone and interactive television. All over the world there has been a major shift by governments towards deregulation of the gambling industry which has taken gambling out of traditional gambling environments and has led to increases in access and opportunity to gamble remotely. A study of 473 students in the U.K. found that men were significantly more likely to be Internet gamblers than women, that Internet gamblers were significantly more likely to be problem gamblers than traditional gamblers and that men were more likely to be problem Internet gamblers. The researchers pointed out that Internet gambling was more likely to create problems because of its increased number of opportunities, its convenience, its 24-hour access and flexibility and the smaller intervals between gambles.

Griffiths, Mark and Barnes, Andrew - Internet gambling: an online empirical study among student gamblers International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction April 2008, 6(2), 194-204

Personality disorders and problem gambling

The role played by personality disorders in other addictions has encouraged researchers to conduct studies into the links between personality disorders and pathological gambling. A Spanish study compared 50 pathological gamblers, 50 people being treated for other addictions and 50 other unaffected people. 32% of pathological gamblers showed a personality disorder, compared to 16% of the other addicts and 8% of the general population. The most common disorders were borderline personality (16%) followed by antisocial, narcissistic and non-specified personality disorders (8% each).

Echeburua, Enrique and Fernandez-Montalvo, Javier - Are there more personality disorders in treatment-seeking pathological gamblers than in other kinds of patients? A comparative study between the IPDE and the MCMI International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology 2008, 8(1), 53-64

Adolescent problem gamblers

A study of 2,179 adolescents in the Canadian province of Ontario looked into the prevalence of, and risk factors for, gambling problems. The researchers classified 37.9% of the sample as non-gamblers, 49.3% as social gamblers, 7.8% as at-risk gamblers and 5% as pathological problem gamblers. Boys were six times more likely to be pathological problem gamblers than girls. Lower family and school connectedness and lack of family cohesion were all found to increase the risk for problem gambling.

Dickson, Laurie, Derevensky, Jeffrey L. and Gupta, Rina - Youth gambling problems: examining risk and protective factors International Gambling Studies April 2008, 8(1), 25-47

Problem gambling - are the odds better than we think ?

The conventional wisdom about addictive gambling suggests that it is an enduring and progressive disorder that seldom gets better without professional help and gets worse over time with people placing larger and larger bets more and more frequently in an attempt to recoup their losses. However, recent research has found that drug and alcohol addictions are not always a one-way street with people moving backwards and forwards into different levels of addiction and some giving up their habit without any professional intervention. A review of 5 recent studies on problem gamblers who were not receiving treatment has found that this pattern also holds true for them. The study found no evidence to support the assumption that individuals cannot recover from disordered gambling, no evidence to support the assumption that people who had more severe gambling habits were less likely to improve than those who had less severe problems and that people with some gambling problems were no more likely to get worse than people currently without gambling problems were to develop them.

LaPlante, Debi A. ... [et al] - Stability and progression of disordered gambling: lessons from longitudinal studies Canadian Journal of Psychiatry January 2008, 53(1), 52-60