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Gambling Addiction a Psychiatric Disorder He or she should seek a health care practitioner who will do a thorough checkup and laboratory examination to check for deficiencies and toxicities, and get them addressed with good nutrition and lifestyle change. A good place to find a doctor that treats such conditions is at www.safeharbor.com. Of course, behavior patterns such as compulsive gambling aren't only caused by physical illnesses. But the first step in helping a person with such a condition is to make sure that this area has been fully checked out. Using drugs to mask symptoms, when the real existing physical problem has not been discovered, is not good medicine. - D.I. Minkoff, MD The National Council on Problem Gambling says that nearly 3 million American adults are compulsive gamblers. These people constantly think about their past bets, plan their future bets, and devise ways to find money to support their addiction, says an article in the March issue of the Harvard Mental Health Letter. While most compulsive gamblers are men, the problem is also growing among women. Blacks have a higher rate of compulsive gambling than whites. The rate of compulsive gambling is about twice the average among people who live within 50 miles of a casino. Gambling addiction usually follows the typical pattern of addiction. It's usually accompanied by depression or alcohol addiction. Treatment for gambling addiction is similar to treatment for drug and alcohol addiction, the Harvard Mental Health Letter says. Treatments include 12-step groups, cognitive-behavioral therapies, psychodynamic therapy, and motivational interviewing. Most studies have focused on cognitive and behavioral therapies and they seem to be the most effective, at least in the short term.
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This
is one of my pet peeves! The cycle goes like this... a group of
psychiatrists observe some non optimum behavior in a group of people;
they decide that that behavior pattern is a psychiatric disorder;
then they list that as a "disease" in the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual- a book of psychiatric diagnoses and billing codes); then
a pharmaceutical drug can be prescribed without a thorough medical
workup. The person may then suffer the consequences of taking a
new drug. This sequence usually does not take into consideration
that behavioral problems are often caused by underlying physical
abnormalities. These abnormalities, while sometimes subtle, often require
thorough diagnostic testing to be discovered. 