Interviews

The NCRG blog team recently had the opportunity to interview Dr. Clayton Neighbors, director of the Social Influences and Health Behaviors Lab at the University of Houston. Last year, Dr. Neighbors was awarded an NCRG grant to develop and test an online screening and brief intervention (SBI) aimed at reducing gambling-related problems among college students. The SBI will be included on the NCRG’s website, CollegeGambling.org, which was developed as a free resource to help colleges and universities address gambling disorders and responsible gaming on campus.

Despite scientific advances in understanding mental health problems, the stigma surrounding disorders such as depression, substance-use problems and disordered gambling behavior remains a powerful force in today’s society. Mental Health America is observing Mental Health Month in May to increase public awareness of mental health issues and reduce the stigma and prejudice toward these problems.

Clinicians and patients report that embarrassment and shame can be especially acute for individuals with gambling problems because of the lack of public awareness about how an activity like gambling can be as powerful as a drug for a vulnerable person.

To help us reflect on this important issue, we have reproduced, with permission from the American Psychological Association (APA), the following interview about mental health awareness and stigma with Katherine C. Nordal, Ph.D., executive director for professional practice at the APA.

The following is an excerpt from the story “Cottler Leads Scientific Advisory Board into New Era,” which originally was published in the spring 2010 edition of Responsible Gaming Quarterly.

When Dr. Linda B. Cottler was first asked to serve as chair of the Institute for Research on Gambling Disorders’ Scientific Advisory Board (SAB), she made one point exceedingly clear – “I didn’t want to do this job unless there was something I could really contribute,” she said. Cottler, a professor of epidemiology in psychiatry at the Washington University School of Medicine, is one of the country’s foremost epidemiological scientists and is widely respected throughout the addictions research community for her contributions to the field.

Less than a year since the Institute’s inception, Cottler and her fellow SAB members already have made a significant impact on the field of research on gambling disorders. In February, guided by the SAB, the Institute announced the restructuring of its Project Grants program, which will include doubling the number of grants available through that program (see cover story).