Gambling Addiction Flashcards
1
Q
Neurophysiological basis of addiction
A
- If you continue to do something for a long period of time, neurophysiological changes in the brain occur
- Different areas of the brain activates during pleasurable activities
- Ex. alcohol floods the brain with NTs, but the more you do it, the less responsive your system is -> brain no longer responds in same way -> can constitute a disease process (b/c you need more and more of that thing to stimulate brain and get feeling of excitement)
- – Over time, brain can go back to normal state
2
Q
Psychological factors contributing to addiction
A
- Early childhood experiences
- Trauma
- Mental health issues
- Affect regulation
- Impulsivity/sensation seeking
- Cognitive distortions (ex. Illusion of control, Attributional bias, Gambler’s fallacy)
3
Q
Sociological factors
A
- Access to desirable alternatives
- Social norms (ie. modeling, culture)
- Exposure (accessibility/availability, habituation/social adaptation)
- Implications of punitive action
4
Q
Research on access to desirable alternatives
A
- Bruce Alexander: looked at old experiment (rats in cage with cocaine/morphine, rats self-administered until they died -> perpetuated idea that addiction was chronic and inevitable); Bruce hypothesized it was because they had nothing else to do -> created experiment where he build rat park in cages, then put rats in, and rats didn’t self-administer -> reinforced sociological component of addiction
- Carl Hart: had people come into lab who were already users of cocaine/heroin -> gave them choice of injecting in the lab or getting a desirable alternative -> many chose desirable alternative over the substance
5
Q
Biopsychosocial model of addictive processes
A
- Biological: genetics, neurophysiological reward system, changes in neurochemical action, development brain changes, learning
- Social: social norms, access to desirable alternatives, access to money
- Psychological: early childhood experiences, trauma, mental health conditions, impulsivity/sensation-seeking, affect regulations, cognitive distortions
- PLUS repeated exposure that produces a desirable subjective shift
6
Q
Gambling in the DSM
A
- In DSM-IV, put with kleptomania, trichotillomania, pyromania, intermittent explosive disorder
- In DSM-5, under substance-related and addictive disorder -> conceptualized as addiction
7
Q
Hallmarks of gambling disorder
A
- Needs to gamble with increasing amounts of money in order to achieve the desired excitement
- Is restless or irritable when attempting to cut down or stop gambling
- Has made repeated unsuccessful efforts to control, cut back, or stop gambling
- Is often preoccupied with gambling
- Often gambles when feeling distressed
- After losing money gambling, often returns another day to get even
- Lies to conceal the extent of involvement
- Has jeopardized or lost a significant relationship, job, or educational or career opportunity because of gambling
- Relies on others to provide money to relieve a desperate financial situation caused by gambling
8
Q
Problem Gambling Severity Index
A
- used to measure severity of gambling problem
- includes questions, person ranks how often they occur from (0/never-3/almost always)
- ex. how often have you bet more than you could afford to lose? Borrowed money to gamble with? etc.
9
Q
Casino employee identification of problematic behaviour
A
- Direct solicitation of advice
- Direct behaviour
- Indirect behaviour
- What level of responsibility should employees have?
- When to intervene?
- What to do?
- What to say?
10
Q
Red flag behaviours
A
- Signs:
- anger/aggression
- Signs of distress
- Myths and distorted thinking
- Signs of excessive involvement
- More than one time point
- Better in conjunction with quantitative data
11
Q
Definitions of addiction
A
- Comes from Latin “enslaved by” or “bound to”
- DSM-5 – Substance Use Disorders: a problematic pattern of using alcohol or another substance that results in impairment in daily life or noticeable distress
- Repeated failure to refrain from drug use despite prior resolutions to do so; decision-making, ambivalence (part of you wants to do it, part of you doesn’t), and conflict as central features
12
Q
Delay discounting
A
- Drug users prefer immediate rewards -> steeper delay discounting
- Drug users discount money more steeply than controls, and discount drug of choice more steeply than money
- Robust findings across all studies of drugs of abuse (heroin, cocaine, alcohol, cigarettes)
13
Q
Delay discounting: evidence of ecological validity
A
- Odum et al: heroin users who admitted using dirty needles discounted more steeply than those who did not
- Field et al: 13-hour abstinence from smoking significantly increased discounting rates
- Krishnan-Sarin et al: steeper discounting predicted relapse in adolescent smokers starting smoking cessation program
14
Q
why do people use drugs?
A
- To feel good/euphoria:
- Positive reinforcement – response increased when a pleasant stimulus occurs (operant conditioning)
- To escape low mood or alleviate unpleasant withdrawal symptoms
- Negative reinforcement: response increases with an aversive stimulus is removed (also operant conditioning)
15
Q
intra-cranial self-stimulation (ICSS)
A
- related to brain mechanisms of operant reinforcement
- researchers put electrode in rat brain that stimulated medial forebrain bundle (driven by dopamine to nucleus accumbens)
- Rat can control it by pressing lever, and would spend hours doing it -> no satiation point
- ISCC curves: drugs of abuse shift the ICSS curve to the left -> rat will work harder for lower level of stimulation -> more sensitive to reward
- – Antipsychotic medication that blocks dopamine receptors has opposite effect
