Excessive Gambling Can Cause Mental Disorders

Hong Kong is the city which hosts the largest number of gamblers on the planet. According to new research it indicates that most gambling addicts in the city also experience some mode of mental disorder.

The Tung Wah Group of Hospitals, the Divisions of Addictions for Harvard Medical School and the Department of Applied Social Science of Hong Kong Polytechnic University have conducted a joint research program spending nine months interviewing and collecting data from 201 gamblers. The subjects were all problem gamblers who sought help for their addiction.

Over sixty percent of the subjects were diagnosed during the time they were studied and experienced at least one mental disorder. The disorders ranged from depression to anxiety and were linked to past gambling addiction. The results compelled researchers to optimize and sharpen-up more on mental health help.

“Mental health has long been neglected,” said Professor Daniel Shek Tan-lei of Hong Kong Polytechnic University. “But pathological gambling cannot be taken at face value.  It is intertwined with psychiatric problems which must be dealt with by professionals.”

Problem gambling has reached astronomical levels in recent years in Hong Kong and the casino Industry in Macau is mainly to be blamed for this.  The Asian gambling centre has caused many Hong Kong residents to visit and these high rollers sometimes fall into extremely unhealthy betting patterns.

Across the globe doctors are conducting research that could gain more insight to the underlying factors that contributes to gambling addiction. Treatment centres have become commonplace in areas where casinos and other forms of gambling are predominant. In the US, some states even require treatment facilities and educational tools implemented first before casino are constructed.

The study clearly indicates that problem gamblers are often withdrawn from their family and their loved ones. The main culprits are depression and anxiety and could be seen as the primary reasons for the withdrawal and researchers believe that gambling addiction only worsens the mental condition of most gamblers addictive to gambling