Comments on: Gambling Addiction

By: nickjohnson

nickjohnson — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 23:19:07 +0000

Julian - I’m no pyschologist but my limited experience of mental health suggests that the labels and diagnosis for these types of illnesses are quite vague and change from person to person.

For example, OCS refers to syndromes and disorders similar to but not Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

jackt- No. Oxytocin is a hormone released in the body to increase risk taking and promote trust. It does relate to con artists but I’ve not heard of link between compulsive gambling and oxytocin.

By: jackt

jackt — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 00:37:10 +0000

Is this related to Oxytocin?

By: Julian

Julian — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 14:16:01 +0000

I had an interesting conversation with a psychologist a few weeks ago who helped treat problem gamblers. She suggested that there were at least three different broad groups that the people fit into, which required different treatment and had different prognoses.

I also heard a sad radio story of a gambler who lost a lot of her belongings, friends and family after changing medication for an unrelated condition. It seems one of the side-effects affected brain function. When she changed medication again, her compulsion to gamble quickly faded.

Perhaps the Obsessive Compulsive Spectrum only describes some patients?