Pathological gambling treated with drugs

MINNEAPOLIS, Dec. 16 (UPI) -- Pathological gambling can be successfully treated with medications often used for substance addiction, U.S. researchers said.

Dr. Jon Grant and his team at the University of Minnesota enrolled men and women with a primary diagnosis of pathological gambling in one of three medication studies. Study sites varied in size from 70-100 participants.

Grant separated pathological gamblers into two major subtypes -- gamblers who are driven by urge, i.e., individuals who report gambling when the desire becomes too strong to control; and those who do not show normal inhibition of impulsive behaviors, i.e., individuals who report being unable to restrict behaviors even when urges are minimal or virtually non-existent.

Gamblers who are driven by urge responded well to treatment with medications that block the brain opioid system -- naltrexone -- or certain receptors for the neurotransmitter glutamate -- e.g., memantine. Grant also found family history plays an important role in refining this group even further -- people with a family history of addiction responded even better to the opioid blocker, which has been shown in other studies to decrease the urge to use substances such as alcohol.

Gamblers who have difficulty inhibiting their behaviors and react to the smallest desires, respond well to medications that act on a specific enzyme, catechol-O-methyl-transferase, which plays a major role in the function of the prefrontal cortex.

The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology.