New Scientific Publications on Gambling Disorders

Petry, N.M. (2004). Pathological Gambling: Etiology, Comorbidity, and Treatment. Washington, D.C., American Psychological Association.
Pathological Gambling: Etiology, Comorbidity, and Treatment examines the prevalence and consequences of problem gambling as well as approaches to treatment. This comprehensive book clarifies the current understanding of gambling as a disorder, including its levels of intensity; possible origins in biological, neurological, developmental, and environmental spheres; and special issues surrounding populations that seem to be more susceptible to problem gambling, including youth, ethnic minorities, and those with comorbid affective disorders such as depression.  The author reviews treatments commonly used for pathological gambling as well as nonprofessionally guided interventions such as Gamblers Anonymous.  Petry then presents her own brief cognitive-behavioral approach, whose success is empirically proven in the largest known study of psychosocial treatments of problem gamblers.

Ordering information is available online.

Shaffer, H.J., LaBrie, R.A., LaPlante, D.A., Nelson, S.E. & Stanton, M.V. (2004). The road less traveled: Moving from distribution to determinants in the study of gambling epidemiology. (2004). Canadian Journal of Psychiatry,49(8):501-3.
The authors suggest that it is time to move from general population-prevalence research toward the investigation of risk and protective factors that influence the onset of gambling disorders. The road yet to be taken is the study of incidence among vulnerable and resilient populations. This article presents a history of the field and a review of the epidemiologic research on disordered gambling before providing a critical assessment of the current diagnostic tools. Overall, the extant research shows that disordered gambling is a relatively stable phenomenon throughout the world. Given that certain segments of the population (for example, adolescents and substance users) have elevated prevalence rates, the authors suggest focusing future prevalence studies on groups with apparently increased vulnerability and that researchers need to take the road less traveled and examine more carefully the onset and determinants of disordered gambling. That said, given the problems with the current diagnostic screens, investigators need to refine their theoretical concepts and the epidemiologic tools used to examine them before the field can travel down this new road.

The article is available online.

Grant, J.E. & Potenza, M.N. (Eds.) (2004).Pathological Gambling: A Clinical Guide to Treatment. Washington, D.C., American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc.
Reflecting the extraordinary progress of gambling research in recent years, this guide comprises the most extensive coverage on public health, clinical characteristics and treatment, psychotherapy and psychopharmacology, and interventions for adolescents, adults, and older adults. Thirty-two experts detail the clinical phenomenology, etiology, and treatment of pathological gambling, highlighting the current clinical approaches most likely to lead to early identification, symptom remission, and improvement maintenance.

The contributors include investigators funded by the National Center for Responsible Gaming and the Institute for Research on Pathological Gambling and Related Disorders: Donald W. Black, M.D.; Renee M. Cunningham-Williams, Ph.D., M.P.E.; Rani A. Desai, M.P.H, Ph.D.; Jon E. Grant, J.D., M.D., M.P.H., Suck Won Kim, M.D.; Marc N. Potenza, M.D., Ph.D.; Howard J. Shaffer, Ph.D., C.A.S.; Randy Stinchfield, Ph.D., L.P.; and Ken C. Winters, Ph.D.

Ordering information is available online.