Following on from that we will briefly describe the support services that are available to those affected.ĭuring the past 12 months, did you have such financial trouble as a result of gambling that you had to get help with living expenses from family, friends, or welfare? We hope that these insights will enable treating physicians to identify the problem early on. Subsequently we will introduce commonly encountered comorbidities. We will go on to present secondary data about trends in the prevalence rates of treatment. In this context we will show different types and common characteristics of gamblers. The aim should be to identify as many pathological gamblers as possible in routine clinical practice and to provide early treatment.Īfter a brief explanation of the legal framework in Germany, this article will set out diagnostic criteria and a brief screening instrument for routine clinical practice. Many of those affected are given medical treatment for their mental comorbidities, but the pathological gambling is not mentioned. Imaging methods have shown that persons with substance related disorders and pathological gamblers resemble each other in the patterns of their neurological amplification mechanisms ( 2). In analogy to the use of psychotropic substances, gambling is an effective but inadequate strategy used to cope with stressors or stresses ( 1).

The main characteristic is frequent and repeated episodes of gambling, to quote directly, “that dominate the patient’s life to the detriment of social, occupational, material, and family values and commitments” ( e1). Gambling addiction is the vernacular term for the ICD-10 diagnosis “Pathological gambling” (F63.0). In Germany, the number of patients seeking outpatient or inpatient treatment for gambling addition has risen continually during the past decade.

Warning signs of compulsive gambling