Site Contents:
Institute for Research on Pathological Gambling and Related Disorders
Other Division web sites:
Institute for Research on Pathological Gambling and Related Disorders
Research Programs
Institute Home | Research Programs | Who's Who | Annual Conference | Education & Dissemination
Philosophy
The study of pathological gambling is essential to the understanding of addiction and dependence. Pathological gambling shares many features with other addictive disorders, and recent research suggests a strong link among these activities. Although most people gamble without difficulty, the prevalence of gambling disorders is similar to the rate and nature of some drug use disorders. Like drug abusers, pathological gamblers persist in gambling despite great financial harm and destruction of personal relationships. Pathological gamblers also experience high levels of concurrent or related psychiatric disorders. In addition to depression, manic behavior and personality problems, pathological gambling is often co-morbid with cigarette smoking, alcohol and other drug abuse.
Current clinical knowledge about addiction, in general, and substance dependence, in particular, rests upon research conducted with people who repeatedly experience potent emotional states before, during and occasionally after they ingest psychoactive substances. Such investigations inadvertently have confounded the influence of substance ingestion with repetitive behaviors and the associated emotional experiences. Research funded by the Institute for Research on Pathological Gambling and Related Disorders will seek to explore and understand the relationships among substance abuse, pathological gambling and other related psychiatric disorders.
Terms of Use.