NCRG Annual Conference to Focus on Nature of Addictions

Excessive shopping, alcohol dependency, pathological gambling, sex addiction. These topics and more will be the focus of the National Center for Responsible Gaming's (NCRG) third annual conference, Rethinking Addiction: How Gambling and Other Behavioral Addictions are Changing the Concept and Treatment of Alcohol and Substance Use Disorders. The three-day conference, co-sponsored by the Institute for Research on Pathological Gambling and Related Disorders and the Nevada Council on Problem Gambling, will be held Dec. 8-10 at The Mirage hotel-casino in Las Vegas.
 
New research is encouraging the scientific community to reconsider the nature of addiction. Traditionally, substance use disorders have provided the model to understand nonchemical addictions such as pathological gambling and excessive shopping. However, behavioral addictions provide important insights into substance use disorders because they are absent the confounding influence of intoxicants. "Rethinking Addiction" is an opportunity to examine new ways of conceptualizing addiction and learn about the profound treatment implications of these ideas for both behavioral and substance use disorders.
 
This multidisciplinary conference is designed for health care providers in the addictive disorders, including treatment, teaching and research specialists in the field of problem gambling and alcoholism. Representatives from the gaming and alcohol industries, as well as regulators, media and the public, also are encouraged to attend.
 
For more information on the conference or conference registration, call Christine Reilly at the Institute for Research on Pathological Gambling and Related Disorders at 617-432-0297.