What Doctors Don't Tell YouIt’s got to be worth a gamble
While many of us might like to take a flutter now and again, there is a breed apart branded by doctors as ‘pathological gamblers’. And they’re developing a drug for them.
To find out if you are a pathological gambler, you must meet five of 10 possible criteria, such as having a preoccupation with gambling, a need to gamble with increasing sums and a history of unsuccessful attempts to stop.
Doctors have been testing two SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) fluvoxamine and paroxetine on a small group of gamblers, seven of whom reported improvements. Another drug, naltrexone, was also found to be effective among those with a “strong gambling urge”
(J Am Med Assoc, 2001; 286: 141-4).
Steve Taylor
Elliott Dacher MD
Dr. Judith Orloff MD