This is the 2nd post in our 3-part series on pathological gambling (PG).  (Here’s Post #1.)  Today we’ll look at the treatment for gambling.

Treatment is divided into psychological treatment and medication treatment.  One of the most important interventions before treating the actual gambling problem is figuring out if there are also “co-existing” disorders.

We know that other mental health problems often occur at the same time in people with gambling problems.  These other psychological problems include:

• - 70% of gamblers have mood problems, for example, depression or bipolar disorder
• - 60% of gamblers have drug and alcohol problems
• - 40% of gamblers have anxiety disorders

If you treat the gambling problem, you also have to treat any other mental illness or the gambler won’t get better.

So let’s look at psychological treatment.  Studies show that these treatments work: (more…)

This is the 1st post in a 3-part series on pathological gambling.  And what’s that, you ask??  Pathological gambling is gambling addiction.  Behaviors such as these are diagnostic:

• - preoccupation with gambling
• - inability to control gambling behavior
• - lying to loved ones about gambling
• - impaired work or social functioning due to gambling

(See also this previous post about PG (pathological gambling.)

So when does it start?  PG usually begins in someone’s teens or early 20’s, with males having symptoms at an earlier age than females.  However, PG develops more quickly in females after they begin to gamble.

Most interesting is that the type of gambling that women and men get addicted to is different.  Women tend to have problem behavior with “non-strategic” forms of gambling, for example slot machines and bingo.  Men, however, play more “strategic” games in PG, such as sports and card gambling.

Upcoming post #2 in this series:  What are the Behavioral Treatments for PG?

Upcoming post #3 in this series:  What are the Drug Treatments for PG?

You’re a horse and, in 1 year, you win the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes.  By winning all 3, you have bragging rights to say you were good enough to win the ____________.

Yes, it’s a bit far from poker, but you all-around bettors might have guessed the Trifecta or Triple Crown .

And just like those who bet on horse races, you poker players sometimes succumb to pathological gambling.  But we won’t shoot you for your disability - and there may even be hope for you - with a medication.

A new study looks at the antidepressant Wellbutrin in the treatment of gambling addiction.  On the plus side, 1/3 of patients reported “much improvement” in their problem gambling (and, no, that doesn’t mean they placed better bets).  The minus is that almost 50% of those treated with placebo also said they were better.  Which means Wellbutrin got stuck in the gate, actually faring worse than sugar pills.

Wellbutrin had showed promise for gambling addiction in some earlier races, so it was a good candidate to be put through the paces.  There were significant limitations to the study (including a very small sample size, a high placebo-response rate, and a high drop-out rate), so the final race has not yet been run.  But because Wellbutrin actually lagged a placebo, don’t plan on a pay-out for the medication.

But all hope isn’t lost.  Did you know that Wellbutrin is known to be useful for treating ADHD, as well as nicotine addiction?  So if you suffer from inattention and cigarette addiction - and chomp at the bit when cards are dealt - well, you possibly could hit the mental-illness-cure trifecta with Wellbutrin.  Now that’s something you could surely place a bet on!

(Study in the Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology, 2007, vol 27.)