Researchers weigh in on problem gambling — call it a ‘chronic medical condition’

Kevin Ferguson

Wednesday, July 11, 2001 | 10:46 a.m.

Pathological gambling should be viewed as a "chronic medical condition" in the same manner as drug and alcohol abuse, say a group of Yale University researchers.

By doing so, the researchers say they can get a better understanding of the problems that lead to the "disorder."

"As with drug addiction, pathological gambling can have a devastating effect on family relationships, disrupting work, marriage and/or child care responsibilities," said Marc Potenza, assistant professor of psychiatry at Yale.

The researchers' findings are compiled in an article published in today's Journal of the American Medical Association.

Parts of the report mirror comments made by a group of scientists last month at a conference in New York hosted by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.

A group of researchers there said that parts of the brain that respond to prospects of winning and losing money while gambling are the same parts that appear to respond to cocaine and morphine, the Associated Press reported.

Potenza said less than 10 percent of adult gamblers develop a gambling problem.

Problem gambling generally refers to gambling that interferes significantly with basic functioning at work, interpersonal relationships and finances.

Pathological gambling is more severe and refers to a psychiatric disorder with specific diagnostic criteria.

The Yale researchers said the growth of problem gambling is likely to spread quicker than ever because of the proliferation of gambling in newly legalized jurisdictions and because of Internet gambling.

Potenza said video poker and Internet gambling are more "habit-forming" than traditional gambling -- like casino table games and horse racing wagering -- given their greater rapidity of action and ability to be experienced in isolation.

Nevada lawmakers recently passed a bill paving the way for the state's largest casinos to operate Internet gambling sites.

Keith Whyte, executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling, said one way to look at problem gambling is that it's a medical disorder.

But the compulsive gambling treatment community is not united on this view.

"There's still a lot of stigma attached to problem gambling in the same way that alcohol abuse was viewed 20 years ago, saying that they're (mentally) weak (people)," said Whyte, whose group is partially funded by the casino industry.

"But by viewing it as a medical condition, (problem gambling) is seen as having biological roots," Whyte said.

Problem gambling treatment is still under-funded because 80 percent of insurance companies refuse to cover gambling addiction treatment, Whyte said.

Potenza said studies show that with the rapid increase and availability of legalized gambling, there are a growing number of problem and pathological gamblers.

In 1998, 86 percent of the general adult population was estimated to have gambled at some time in their lives, up from 68 percent in 1975, the Yale report says.

"Primary care physicians should make questions about a patient's gambling habits a routine part of a check-up, as are questions about alcohol and drug abuse," said Potenza.

The study was funded in part by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, American Psychiatric Association, National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression, the National Center for Responsible Gaming and a research center at a Veterans Administration hospital in Connecticut.