NCRG Conference to Explore New Concepts About Addiction

Experts in the addiction fields of alcohol, drugs, gambling, sex and shopping will gather Dec. 8-10 at the fourth annual conference of the National Center for Responsible Gaming (NCRG) to examine new ways of conceptualizing these disorders and explore the profound treatment implications of these ideas for both behavioral and substance use disorders. "Rethinking Addiction:  How Gambling and Other Behavioral Addictions are Changing the Concept and Treatment of Alcohol and Substance Use Disorders," co-sponsored by the Institute for Research on Pathological Gambling and Related Disorders at Harvard Medical School and the Nevada Council on Problem Gambling, is expected to break new ground in the addictions field.

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.

The three-day conference will include an impressive group of speakers examining the following topics:

• The Brain and Addiction: Neurobiological Perspectives on Drugs, Gambling and Other Behavioral Disorders
• Serious Shopping and Gambling: Therapeutic Considerations in Working with Behavioral Addictions
• Sex Addiction: Treatment Lessons from Gambling
• The Role of Self-Help in Regulating Desire: Struggling with Alcohol and Gambling
• Public Health and Addiction: The Impact of Gambling on Alcohol and Drug Polics

Peter N. Stearns, Ph.D., provost of George Mason University, will give the keynote address, "Addiction and the Struggle for Self-Control in Modern America." Other speakers will include Bertha K. Madras, Ph.D., professor of psychobiology at Harvard Medical School; Harvey A. Skinner, Ph.D., professor and chairman of the Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Toronto; Patrick J. Carnes, Ph.D., C.A.S., clinical director for sexual disorder services, The Meadows; Hamilton Beazley, Ph.D., associate professor of organizational sciences, The George Washington University; and James O. Prochaska, Ph.D., director, Cancer Research Consortium, and professor of clinical and health psychology, University of Rhode Island. 
This multidisciplinary conference is designed for health-care providers in the addictive disorders, including treatment, teaching and research specialists in the fields of problem gambling and alcoholism. Representatives from the gaming and alcohol industries, gaming and alcohol regulators, the media, and the public also are encouraged to attend. 

The three-day conference will be held at The Mirage casino-hotel in Las Vegas. For more information, or to register, call 617-432-0297 or visitwww.hms.harvard.edu/doa/institute.