Pathological Gambling

Pathological Gambling, behavior disorder in which an individual becomes progressively unable to resist the impulse to gamble. Listed in 1980 as “pathological gambling” in the American Psychiatric Association diagnostic manual, this disorder afflicts 2 to 3 percent of the U.S. adult population. Four out of five problem gamblers are men, and over 90 percent have gambled since their mid-teens. Compulsive gamblers are usually competitive, hardworking, bright individuals addicted to the activity of gambling. They show little interest in passive games of chance, such as lotteries. Gamblers Anonymous, an organization with a 12-step self-help program, has some 300 chapters in the U.S. to help reformed gamblers, who experience psychological withdrawal effects similar to those of drug addicts. Recovery often takes two years or more.