The Brief Addiction Science Information Source (BASIS)

The WAGER, Vol 4(48) - Primary Colors: Prevalence in a Clinical Setting

Clinical populations have long been a fertile source of subjects for epidemiologists. Persons seeking medical care are a self-selected group that generally has higher morbidity rates than the general population. Thus, canvassing emergency rooms, HMOs, and other clinical settings allows researchers to assemble cohorts in less time and at less expense than would be needed for traditional, household recruiting. One particular clinical population, primary care patients, is a perennial favorite for epidemiologists and clinical investigators. Pasternak and Fleming (1999) sought point prevalences of problem gambling and comorbid pathologies from this population. Between November, 1997 and April, 1998, the authors studied... Read more →

The WAGER, Vol 4(47) - B.Y.O Popcorn

This inaugural installment of reviews about gambling-related movies coincides with the publication of Jeffrey W. Dement's Going for Broke: The depiction of compulsive gambling in film.1 Dement's book reviews and discusses 21 films that include gambling as a plot element. Cinema classics such as The Hustler are addressed, as are not-quite-classics such as National Lampoon's Vegas Vacation. Acknowledging the power of the cinema to convey complex characters and situations and the centrality of film as a cultural medium, we present brief reviews and commentary on three movies that may or may not find their way onto the holiday wish lists... Read more →

The WAGER, Vol 4(46) - The Genetic Plot Thickens

[Editor's note: the United States Department of Energy publishes an excellent glossary of genetic terminology and a primer on molecular genetics. Both will be helpful to readers with no background in genetics] Last summer, WAGER 3(30) presented David Comings's research relating variations of the DRD4 dopamine receptor gene with pathological gambling. In a more recent study, Comings and his colleagues advance their previous findings by greatly increasing their sample size and the breadth of their investigation. As in their past work, they look at the prevalence of seven different alleles of the DRD4 receptor gene in 737 control subjects and... Read more →

The WAGER, Vol 4(45) - False Beliefs and Cognitions

A primary aim of cognitive-behavioral therapy (see WAGERs 2(20) and 4(7)) is to correct false beliefs that contribute to a particular pathology. For example, a patient with depression might ruminate excessively on a particular set of personal misfortunes. A cognitive-behavioral therapist might try to correct the scheme of negativity used by the patient to understand and process information, helping him or her to perceive both the postitive and negative aspects of events. One distorted cognitive scheme relevant to gambling is the misshapen probability weighting curve disscussed in WAGER 4(26). What other mistaken beliefs are common in pathological gamblers? Toneatto (1999)... Read more →

The WAGER, Vol 4(44) - Nalmefene: A Well-Tolerated Opioid Antagonist

Last year, the WAGER 3(23) discussed the use of naltrexone as a possible pharmacological treatment for pathological gambling. Naltrexone, also known by its trade name, ReVia, is an opioid antagonist produced by Dupont Pharma. Like other opioid antagonists, naltrexone binds to opioid receptors in the brain. This action protects these receptors from the binding action of opiates (e.g., heroin and morphine). Used properly, naltrexone effectively denies the patient the euphoric effects that normally accompany the administration of opioids. Naltrexone is also an adjunct therapy for those suffering with alcoholism; it decreases alcohol craving and, therefore, consumption. Consequently, it appears helpful... Read more →