Internet-Based Interventions for Problem Gambling: Scoping Review.

Background: This study seeks to give an overview of academic research on internet-based interventions that are used to address problem gambling. The rate of treatment seeking has been demonstrated to be low across several research environments. This is in part because of the systemic barriers that treatment seekers face to accessing traditional face-to-face treatment.

Childhood Abuse History in Depression Predicts Better Response to Antidepressants with Higher Serotonin Transporter Affinity: A Pilot Investigation.

Objectives: Childhood abuse is a powerful prognostic indicator in adults with major depressive disorder (MDD) and is associated with numerous biological risk factors for depression. The purpose of this investigation was to explore if antidepressant medication affinity for the serotonin transporter moderates the association between childhood abuse and treatment response.

Methods: Our sample included 52 outpatients with MDD who had received up to 26 weeks of pharmacotherapy, stratifying antidepressant medications with a high versus a low affinity for the serotonin transporter.

Strong interactions between learned helplessness and risky decision-making in a rat gambling model.

Risky decision-making is characteristic of depression and of addictive disorders, including pathological gambling. However it is not clear whether a propensity to risky choices predisposes to depressive symptoms or whether the converse is the case. Here we tested the hypothesis that rats showing risky decision-making in a rat gambling task (rGT) would be more prone to depressive-like behaviour in the learned helplessness (LH) model.

Parallel role for the dopamine D1 receptor in gambling and amphetamine reinforcement in healthy volunteers.

This study investigated the role of dopamine, and specifically the D1 receptor (D1R), in the reinforcing effects of a slot-machine game in healthy volunteers ( n=30). To compare gambling and drug effects, subjects received the prototypic psychostimulant drug d-amphetamine (AMPH; 20 mg) in a multi-session, placebo-controlled design. To isolate D1R, half the subjects were pretreated with the preferential D2 receptor antagonist haloperidol (HAL; 3 mg), and the other half with the mixed D1-D2 antagonist fluphenazine (FLU; 3 mg) before the game (Phase I) and AMPH (Phase II).

Differential cardiovascular and hypothalamic pituitary response to amphetamine in male pathological gamblers versus healthy controls.

Cardiovascular and hypothalamic pituitary axis (HPA) disturbances have been observed in individuals who are pathological gamblers (PGs). These may partly derive from chronic exposure to gambling. Response to amphetamine (AMPH) may reveal such disturbances while controlling for differential conditioned responses to gambling in PGs vs healthy controls (HCs).

Deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus increases premature responding in a rat gambling task.

Deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus (STN-DBS) is a treatment option for the motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD). However, several recent studies have found an association between STN-DBS and increased impulsivity. Currently, it is not clear whether the observed increase in impulsivity results from STN-DBS per se, or whether it involves an interaction with the underlying PD neuropathology and/or intake of dopaminergic drugs.

The role of ANKK1 and TTC12 genes on drinking behaviour in tobacco dependent subjects.

Objectives: Alcohol use disorders (AUD) act as a risk factor for smoking relapse, and tobacco dependent (TD) subjects with comorbid AUD experience more withdrawal symptoms compared to TD subjects without AUD or other psychiatric comorbidities. Our aim was to investigate whether drinking behaviour in the past 12 months and smoking relapse due to alcohol use in TD subjects was associated with polymorphisms flanking the TTC12/ANKK1/DRD2 region since associations have been found between these genes and AUD and TD as separate disorders.

Methods: 380 TD subjects were assessed for alcohol use and relapse to smoking.

Association of functional variants in the dopamine D2-like receptors with risk for gambling behaviour in healthy Caucasian subjects.

Pathological gambling (PG) is an impulse control disorder with suggestive genetic vulnerability component. We evaluated the association of genetic variants in the dopaminergic receptor genes (DRD1-3s) with risk for gambling in healthy subjects using the Canadian Problem Gambling Index (CPGI). Healthy Caucasian subjects who had gambled at least once in their lifetime (n=242) were included in the analysis.

Cocaine and amphetamine regulated transcript (CART) gene in the comorbidity of schizophrenia with alcohol use disorders and nicotine dependence.

Studies have shown a genetic susceptibility to develop schizophrenia, alcohol use disorders and nicotine dependence. Brain areas related to reward and reinforcement show high expression of the cocaine and amphetamine regulated transcript (CART). Nicotine and alcohol are also able to modulate CART expression in the hypothalamic areas.

Genetic aspects of pathological gambling: a complex disorder with shared genetic vulnerabilities.

Aims: To summarize and discuss findings from genetic studies conducted on pathological gambling (PG).

Methods: Searches were conducted on PubMed and PsychInfo databases using the keywords: 'gambling and genes', 'gambling and family' and 'gambling and genetics', yielding 18 original research articles investigating the genetics of PG.

Results: Twin studies using the Vietnam Era Twin Registry have found that: (i) the heritability of PG is estimated to be 50-60%; (ii) PG and subclinical PG are a continuum of the same disorder; (iii) PG shares genetic vulnerability factors with antisocial behaviours, alcohol dependence and major depressive disorder; (iv) genetic factors underlie the association between exposure to traumatic life-events and PG.

Fluoxetine treatment for anxiety in women undergoing in vitro fertilization.

Objective: To compare anxiety levels experienced during 4 stressful periods of in vitro fertilization (IVF) and treatment outcomes between women taking fluoxetine and a placebo.

Methods: A prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of patients allocated to receive either fluoxetine (FLX) or folic acid (FA). Anxiety state was assessed at the beginning of ovarian stimulation (OS), ovum pick-up, embryo transfer, and on the day of the pregnancy test (DPT) using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI).

[Compulsive buying disorder: a review and a case vignette].

Objective: Compulsive buying disorder was first described as a psychiatric syndrome in the early twentieth century. Its classification remains elusive, and investigators have debated its potential relationship to mood, substance use, obsessive-compulsive, and impulse control disorders. The objective of this study is to present a review of compulsive buying disorder and present a case vignette.

The genetics of gambling and behavioral addictions.

Behavioral addictions are considered as the repetitive occurrence of impulsive behaviors without consideration of their potential negative consequences. These addictions represent an increasing cost to society and are an important new field of research in psychiatric genetics. There has been a growing body of evidence on the familial aggregation and genetic influences on the development of behavioral addictions and mainly on pathological gambling.

Factors at play in faster progression for female pathological gamblers: an exploratory analysis.

Background: Previous studies reported a faster progression for alcohol dependence and pathological gambling among females as compared with males. This phenomenon was called the "telescoping effect." By comparing female gamblers with male gamblers regarding gambling preferences and comorbidity, the authors explored potential risk factors for telescoping.

Pathological gambling in women: a review.

Pathological gambling was only recently recognized as a psychiatric disorder (DSM-III, APA, 1980). Most studies of pathological gambling include only male subjects. Despite the paucity of information, it is likely that at least one-third of pathological gamblers are women.