Harvard Study Finds Popular Views on Problem Gambling Inaccurate

Plante found no evidence that problem gamblers could not improve; in fact, almost a third of those studied showed significant improvement.

A study conducted by Harvard Medical School has found the accepted view of compulsive gambling to be inaccurate, finding that individuals with the problem do not necessarily get progressively worse, and that recovery is not only possible but occurs frequently.

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the Bible of psychiatrists and the source which defines the categories and terms used by mental health experts, pathological gambling is "persistent and recurrent." Yet, Harvard Professor Debi Plante, writing in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, states that the study shows problem gambling “appears to be dynamic, with individuals moving back and forth between health and more disordered states, and with a higher rate of recovery than previously assumed.” 

Studying results of five major inquiries into the nature of compulsive gambling, Plante found no evidence that problem gamblers could not improve; in fact, almost a third of those studied showed significant improvement.

In a separate paper funded by the National Institutes for Health, Professor Wendy Slutske of the University of Missouri-Columbia found that “a substantial portion of individuals with a history of pathological gambling eventually recover.” 

These new studies should help end an erroneous assumption commonly held about problem gambling: that addictive gamblers cannot be helped by education, as the problem only gets worse. Now it can be seen, gamblers who need help can be treated and educated to relieve their symptoms effectively.