Study Shows Problem Gambling Symptomatic of Mental Disorder

Those who fear the advent of Internet casinos as an acerbating condition of problem gambling may now see that compulsive gambling is caused not by temptation, but by mental disorders that need therapy and treatment to heal.

A research study published in the Archives of Neurology has found evidence to corroborate results in scientific experiments around the world regarding the nature of problem gambling. According to the group of doctors involved, compulsive gambling is a symptom of a physiological problem within the brain, relating to a dysfunctional reward-related neuron system.

This follows independent studies taken in several different countries, all of which have concluded that compulsive gambling is not caused by proliferation of gaming availability, but by underlying pathological differences in the physical makeup of the brain.

Scientists are careful to separate those who happen to learn a painful lesson from overextending themselves gambling, and learn not to repeat the behavior, and those who are truly compulsive gamblers. True problem gambling is now recognized as being the manifestation of a deeper cause, and treating the cause is considered obviously preferable to removing the symptom.

The study also showed a relationship between victims of Parkinson's disease taking dopaminergic medication, and problem gambling. The illness and its treatment apparently work in the same areas of the brain suspected of stimulating the urge to gamble.

Those who fear the advent of Internet casinos as an acerbating condition of problem gambling may now see that compulsive gambling is caused not by temptation, but by mental disorders that need therapy and treatment to heal.