Over the past several decades, there have been significant advances in medical and scientific technologies that allow for the improved examination of the biological processes underlying specific behaviors. Advances in neuroimaging and molecular biology allow for studies that a decade or two previously were scarcely imaginable. For example, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), via assessment […]

Pathological gambling is conceptualized as an addictive disorder on the grounds that it exhibits many phenomenological similarities to substance-abuse disorders. Higher rates of alcoholism and other substance use have been reported among gamblers than in the general population. Rates of lifetime substance use among pathological gamblers from the community and from treatment settings range from […]

In 1972 Dr. Robert Custer, a psychiatrist working at a Veterans’ Administration Hospital in Ohio, first proposed a medical syndrome associated with gambling, which he termed “compulsive gambling.” His efforts brought the problems associated with gambling into the health care arena. Dr. Robert Custer has identified three phases to pathological gambling:

Within the last few years, there has been a substantial increase in the amount of gambling opportunities offered on the Internet. Many concerns have been raised about the activity, including the potential for excessive gambling, and the lack of safeguards for vulnerable populations such as adolescents and problem gamblers. The global nature of the Internet, […]

The Columbia Encyclopedia describes gambling as “betting of money or, valuables on, and often participation in, games of chance (some involving degrees of skill)” Compulsive, or pathological gambling is described “as a psychological disorder characterized by a persistent inability to resist the impulse to gamble. The disorder is progressive and typically results in difficulties in […]

IntroductionImpulse control disorders are characterized by repetitive behaviors and impaired inhibition of these behaviors. Important defining criteria for these disorders include: The failure to resist an impulse to perform some act that is harmful to the individual or others; An increasing sense of arousal or tension prior to committing or engaging in the act; An […]