Editing Problem gambling (section)

{{Short description|Repetitive gambling despite demonstrable harm and adverse consequences}}
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{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2014}}
{{Infobox medical condition
| name = 
| synonyms = Ludopathy, ludomania, degenerate gambling, gambling addiction, compulsive gambling, pathological gambling, gambling disorder
| image = Gambling chips.jpg
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| symptoms = Spending a lot of money and time in casino/sports betting
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| risks = [[Video game addiction]]<ref>{{cite journal |title= Adolescents and loot boxes: links with problem gambling and motivations for purchase |journal=Royal Society Open Science |date=June 2019 |volume=6 |issue=6 |author=David Zendle |author2=Rachel Meyer |author3=Harriet Over |page=190049 |doi=10.1098/rsos.190049 |pmid=31312481 |pmc=6599795 |bibcode=2019RSOS....690049Z |doi-access=free}}</ref>
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}}
{{Addiction glossary|reverse citation order=yes}}

'''Problem gambling''', '''ludopathy''',<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zollinger |first=Manfred |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3f_dCwAAQBAJ |title=Random Riches: Gambling Past & Present |date=2016-03-31 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-07156-3 |page=34 |access-date=2024-10-30}}</ref> or '''ludomania''' is repetitive [[gambling]] behavior despite harm and negative consequences. Problem gambling may be diagnosed as a [[mental disorder]] according to [[DSM-5]] if certain diagnostic criteria are met. Pathological gambling is a common disorder associated with social and family costs.

The DSM-5 has re-classified the condition as an addictive disorder, with those affected exhibiting many similarities to those with substance addictions. The term ''gambling addiction'' has long been used in the recovery movement.<ref>{{cite book |last=Eades |first=John |year=2003 |title=Gambling Addiction: The Problem, the Pain, and the Path to Recovery |publisher=Vine Books |isbn=978-0-8307-3425-2 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/gamblingaddictio00john }}{{Page needed |date=May 2012}}</ref> Pathological gambling was long considered by the [[American Psychiatric Association]] to be an [[impulse-control disorder]] rather than an [[addiction]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Petry |first=Nancy |title=Should the Scope of Addictive Behaviors be Broadened to Include Pathological Gambling? |journal=Addiction |date=September 2006 |volume=101 |issue=s1 |doi=10.1111/j.1360-0443.2006.01593.x |pages=152–60 |pmid=16930172 }}</ref> However, data suggests a closer relationship between pathological gambling and substance use disorders than exists between PG and [[obsessive–compulsive disorder]], mainly because the behaviors in problem gambling and most primary substance use disorders (i.e., those not resulting from a desire to "[[self-medication|self-medicate]]" for another condition such as depression) seek to activate the brain's reward mechanisms, while the behaviors characterizing obsessive–compulsive disorder are prompted by overactive and misplaced signals from the brain's fear mechanisms.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Potenza |first1=M. N. |title=The neurobiology of pathological gambling and drug addiction: an overview and new findings |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |date=12 October 2008 |volume=363 |issue=1507 |pages=3181–3189 |doi=10.1098/rstb.2008.0100 |pmc=2607329 |pmid=18640909}}</ref>

Problem gambling is an addictive behavior with a high [[comorbidity]] with alcohol problems.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Grant |first1=Jon E. |last2=Chamberlain |first2=Samuel R. |date=2020-04-20 |title=Gambling and substance use: Comorbidity and treatment implications |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0278584619307456 |journal=Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry |volume=99 |pages=109852 |doi=10.1016/j.pnpbp.2019.109852 |pmid=31881248 |issn=0278-5846|url-access=subscription }}</ref> A common tendency shared by people who have a gambling addiction is [[impulsivity]].