33. Addiction without drugs: compulsive gambling a growing problem

By Tom O'Connell

At the beginning of this decade, it was predicted by addiction experts that one of the leading addictions as we approached the millennium would be compulsive gambling. . Was the prediction right? You bet. 

Compulsive gambling is a behavioral addiction, not a substance people consume, and it damages lives. Addiction is unhealthy dependence on any behavior that impairs our ability to function to full potential. And compulsive gambling surely qualifies. Another view points out that addiction is a disease in which any technique for adapting to life is used, other than healthy interpersonal relating. Compulsive gambling fits this mode too.

Early in this century, Sigmund Freud interpreted the gambling problem described in Dostoevsky's novel The Gambler "as both a symbolic act and as self-punishment," according to addiction treatment professional Sheila Blume, M.D. She says, "Treatment based on this and later psychodynamic formulations usually involves intensive individual psychotherapy."

Blume reports that we now have a variety of approaches to treatment, and one of them is the self-help fellowship Gamblers Anonymous (GA). "According to this model," she says, "pathological gambling is an addiction. The gambler  is dependent on being 'in action,' which means in an aroused, euphoric state like the high produced by cocaine and other drugs."

Dr. Blume also says gambling addiction may have a physiological basis, like addictions to alcohol and other drugs. "Alec Roy and his colleagues found high levels of nor epinephrine and its breakdown products in the cerebrospinal fluid and urine of 17 pathological gamblers. Nor epinephrine is a hormone produced by the adrenal gland and a central nervous system neurotransmitter with stimulant effects." She says she once heard a GA member say, "I am hooked on my own adrenaline."

Gambling problems are especially common among alcoholics and other drug abusers, Blume notes. And she explains that "the husbands and wives of pathological gamblers often have similar symptoms. "Increased rates of alcohol and other drug abuse, overeating, and gambling problems are also found in their children."

In one Gallup poll, it was learned that 80 percent of Americans have gambled at some time, and nearly a third gamble once a week. Dr. Blume says, "If all gambling were monopolized by a single corporation, it would be among the top 15 U.S. companies."

Is the increase in gambling locations harmless? Blume says gambling problems are more common where more types of gambling are legal. "State lotteries produce both substantial revenue and serious gambling casualties."

In Massachusetts, about 4.5 percent of the general population, or at least 180,000 residents, are at risk for problem gambling, according to a recent newsletter from the Massachusetts Council on Compulsive Gambling (MCCG). About half of them are compulsive gamblers whose gambling is the central focus of their lives.

Problem gambling is underreported and fairly widespread, according to an article by Dana Forman in MCCG's newsletter. The writer quotes Richard Lewis, an addiction counselor at New Bedford Child and Family Services: "I think given the nature of society in terms of fiscal problems and some of the disparities between haves and have-nots, more and more people are going to be looking for a quick fix to their economic situation."

In the same article, Lori Charron, gambling treatment coordinator at St. Vincent's Hospital in Worcester, Mass., reports she has been dealing with an increasing number of clients, and notes that an extensive problem gambling awareness campaign on radio attracted many people who were having difficulties.

"I think there's still a lot of people who need to be reached," says Charron. "We need more dollars so that we as an agency could do more outreach like they do with HIV and drug addiction. I'd like to have more staff who could go out and provide more education to the public--the Southeast Asian community, the school systems, the elderly community, and police and fire departments."

Is compulsive gambling a problem? Yes, it's a "big deal."

If you wish to gain more insight into gambling addiction, the Massachusetts Council on Compulsive Gambling has its own web site complete with information about problem gambling and where to seek treatment: www.masscompulsivegambling.org.

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