New research suggests the helping problem gamblers might be connected to the same area of the brain linked to substance abuse.
Parts of the brain that light up when drug addicts have cravings also react when problem gamblers are shown gaming-related images, according to a new study by Canada’s University of British Columbia.
“This was in multiple regions of the brain?including the insula,” said Eve Limbrick-Oldfield, a research fellow at the school’s department of psychology and Centre for Gambling Research and lead author of the study.
“This region responds to any type of reward. It’s the same for food reward or financial reward, or if people take a drug,” she explained. “The higher their craving rating, the more active the insula was.”
The findings were culled from MRI scans of the brains of 19 people with serious gambling problems.
They suggest that targeting the insula might lead to the development of drugs to mitigate gambling cravings. There’s a chance drugs currently used to treat alcohol and heroin addiction also will help.
“In our ongoing work we’re looking at a medication called naltrexone that affects the opioid system, and we know there are lots of opioid receptors in the insula,” said study co-author Luke Clark, a psychology professor at UBC and director of the Centre for Gambling Research.
There is a flip side to the findings, however, and in Limbrick-Oldfield’s view it’s that a concrete connection between gambling images and an addict’s reaction to them shows how dangerous advertisements can be for those trying to kick the habit. The study used photos of slot machines, horseracing posters and lottery cards. But she said TV commercials are likely to be even more effective in triggering cravings.
“They involve sounds, movies, and they really are very exciting and highlight the gambling machines,” she noted, adding that it may be time to consider banning such advertising.
“I think it might be quite a controversial view, but in the same way that smoking isn’t advertised anymore, there is certainly an argument for it,” she said.
The findings were published in the journal Translational Psychiatry.
