Psychiatrists Have New Term for Compulsive Gambling: Behavioral Addiction

Living Green Magazine

She was wealthy, successful, intelligent, and influential. In other words, she had a lot to lose. That’s why the recent news that former San Diego mayor Maureen O’Connor had a huge gambling problem has residents of her hometown, as well as millions of Americans, wondering how someone could spin so completely out of control. In the end, O’Connor had won and lost more than $1 billion. Psychiatrists think they know the answer: Compulsive or pathological gambling, they say, is similar to a drug addiction—just without a drug. They will soon have a new term to describe such a disorder: “behavioral addiction.”

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