Pharmacologic Approaches in the Treatment of Pathological Gambling

Abstract Pathological gambling is an understudied disorder that causes significant distress to sufferers, their families, and society. Despite its prevalence among the general population, the impact of pathological gambling remains largely unrecognized by many health care providers. Although a discrete entity, pathological gambling shares salient characteristics with addiction and obsessive-compulsive disoders, and is comorbid with these and other conditions such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in a large number of cases. Recognizing these similarities has significant implications for treatment, as pharmacologic therapies used for these disorders, including serotonergic and mood-stabilizing agents, have shown some degree of efficacy in pathological gambling.