Yale University. US: Problem gambling and obsessive-compulsive behaviors share genetic as
well as behavioral links, according to a study by researchers at Yale,
Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the Saint Louis University School of
Medicine. These findings may help guide not only treatment development
efforts but also identify biological measures underlying the conditions.
Physiological
and behavioral similarities between problem gambling and substance
abuse have long been noted, but gambling’s ties to obsessive-compulsive
disorder are less well established.
A new study of twins,
published Feb. 11 in JAMA Psychiatry, sheds new light on the
relationship between problem gambling and obsessive-compulsive
behaviors. The study finds that individuals with severe
obsessive-compulsive behaviors — or those who demonstrate specific forms
of the behavior, such as fear of germs or desire for order in the
environment — are also more likely to meet diagnostic criteria for
gambling disorder.
“This overlap between problem gambling and
obsessive-compulsive behaviors appears to be genetic in nature,” said
Dr. Marc Potenza, professor of psychiatry, child study, and
neurobiology, and senior author of the study. “This common biological
basis of the disorders could help inform treatment development efforts
for individuals with co-occurring gambling problems and
obsessive-compulsive behaviors.”
Potenza notes that the field of
psychiatry has struggled with how best to classify gambling disorders.
In the older diagnostic guidelines for doctors, pathological gambling
was classified as an impulse control disorder, but in current
guidelines, gambling disorder is classified as an addiction.
“I
think the current evidence in conjunction with previously published data
suggests that gambling disorder shares similarities with both
addictions and obsessive-compulsive behaviors,” Potenza said.
The
study was funded by the Department of Veterans Affairs Health Services
Research and Development Service, the National Institute of Mental
Health, and a Yale Center of Excellence in Gambling Research grant from
the National Center for Responsible Gaming.
Jeffrey F. Scherrer of Veterans Affairs Medical Center at St. Louis University is first author of the study.