Canadian experts have said that addiction to gambling may have a biological link. The explosion in the number of gambling venues across the nation may also have temptations for the compulsive gambler.
"It's related to other addictions, like alcoholism and tobacco addiction. It's a consequence of doing something so often that it changes the way your brain works," said Nigel Turner from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. It is estimated that nearly 2 percent of all adults in North America are addicts.
Previously gambling was thought to be a moral weakness, but recent studies have highlighted that compulsive gambling is a psychiatric disorder. “The person with the gambling disorder has a little bit of less blood flow to the frontal lobe than do people without the compulsion," a U.S. researcher told CTV.
The fact is there are physical differences in the frontal lobes of people addicted to gambling and those who are not. Turner says that in some gamblers, the brain re-wires itself. "To some extent, gambling itself rewrites the brain. Whenever you do something that is very stimulating, like winning, you are changing the way your brain works," said Turner.
Therapy and some medications like Nalmefene can help in treating gambling addicts. The drug, which is already used in alcoholics, could help by taking the pleasure out of winning, researchers said.
