Spotlight on Research: Can Medication Manage Disordered Gambling Behavior? Newest Trends in Research

Research indicates a clear relationship between biological vulnerabilities and the development of a gambling disorder. For example, a vulnerability might be insufficient levels of chemicals – or neurotransmitters – in the brain that regulate mood and judgment. If the low mood is elevated by an activity like gambling, the person could develop a gambling problem. Furthermore, the simultaneous occurrence of depression and other psychiatric problems with a gambling disorder underlines the importance of exploring drug treatments for pathological gambling.

However, currently there is no treatment standard for disordered gambling and no medication has been approved by the FDA for treating the disorder.

Dr. Jon Grant, associate professor of psychiatry and co-director of the Impulse Control Disorders Clinic at the University of Minnesota Medical School, has done extensive research in this area. A review essay published in 2006 and co-authored by Dr. S.W. Kim examined the results of studies looking at three types of drugs used to treat pathological gambling – antidepressants, mood stabilizers, and opioid antagonists. Results from some of these controlled clinical trials are promising and could eventually lead to significant improvement in the lives of people struggling with a gambling disorder.

Grant will discuss this research and its important implications for treatment during the conference session Can Medication Manage Disordered Gambling Behavior? Newest Trends in Research, scheduled for 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 11. To access Grant’s full study click here, or visit the Institute for Research on Pathological Gambling and Related Disorders’ NCRG Conference Resource Page. When prompted, please enter the case-sensitive password: institute.

Welcome from your Conference Hosts

In less than one month’s time, more than 300 researchers, clinicians, regulators, policymakers and gaming industry representatives from all around the world will gather in Las Vegas at the 8th annual NCRG Conference on Gambling and Addiction. Together at this conference, these diverse groups will discuss the latest research about gambling and addiction, and consider how these findings can be adapted into real-world applications for prevention, treatment, education and responsible gaming.

We welcome you to this site and invite you to join us at the international conference, the only gathering of its kind in the U.S. that allows gaming industry and government representatives to engage in dialogue with the world’s leading scientific and clinical professionals.

The 2007 NCRG Conference on Gambling and Addiction will take place Nov. 11-13, at Paris Las Vegas. This event is sponsored by the National Center for Responsible Gaming (NCRG) and the Institute for Research on Pathological Gambling and Related Disorders, a program of the Division on Addictions at Cambridge Health Alliance, a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School.

The theme of this year’s conference, Responsible Gaming, Regulation and Recovery: Testing Conventional Wisdom, calls on attendees to test the “conventional wisdom” about gambling addiction and recovery using the most up-to-date science. Through such dialogue, we can develop more effective policies, regulations, responsible gaming programs and treatment for gambling addiction.

Over the coming weeks, the NCRG conference blog will preview of some of the research and trends that will be covered at the conference. While the conference is in progress, on-site reports will bring you up-to-the-minute details on some of our most compelling sessions and special events. Make sure you receive these updates by signing up for our RSS feed (select an icon in the Subscribe section of the sidebar) to have blog updates automatically delivered to you.

It’s not too late to register for this important event, so please be sure to join us. And if you can’t make it to Las Vegas, we look forward to having you visit us here on the conference blog in the coming weeks.

Phil Satre
Chairman, National Center for Responsible Gaming

Howard J. Shaffer, Ph.D., C.A.S.
Associate Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
Director, Division on Addictions, The Cambridge Health Alliance