Gambling and the need for new responses in Public Health with an addiction "sine substantia".

BACKGROUND: The Gambling Disorder (GD) was recently defined as a behavioral addiction by the "The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV"( DSM-V) since the clinical, neurobiological and psychopathological similarities led it to be defined it as an addiction "sine substantia". The aim of this study is to formulate an "identikit" of the gambler, to evaluate a possible association between GD / emotional specific factors and the correlation between GD / substance abuse, GD / suicide.

METHOD: In the study, 41 subjects were included (31 males and 10 females) and all were diagnosed with GD. A questionnaire was distributed containing 24 questions deriving from South Oaks Gambling Screen and the DSM-IVTR.

RESULTS: The study showed that 51% of the respondents makes use of alcohol and / or drugs; that 73% of the patients started playing in order to relieve feelings of dysphoria and suffering consequences on work as well as family life (51%). A great deal of the respondents were indebted (39%) to the extent of needing to ask for loans from usurer (17%). Furthermore, 41% of the respondents in the sample showed that GD could be transformed into an alarming risk of suicide.

DISCUSSION: The correlation between GD and drug abuse may depend on the brain function and the neural circuits that support impulsive behavior and the gratification mechanisms. Emotional experiences (stress, low level of education, divorce, poor social support) could constitute a possible risk factor that increases the GD. The committed offenses related to gambling could be explained by "loss of control".

CONCLUSIONS: The results of the present study contributes to the body of knowledge regarding the size of phenomenon from a statistical and epidemiological point of view, suggesting the necessity for targeted information on the risks connected to GD in order to capture early warning signs which enables the intervention with suitable strategies.