“Double-Blind Study of Naltrexone and Placebo in the Treatment of Pathological Gambling Disorder”

Principal Investigator: Suck Won Kim, MD, University of Minnesota Medical School
Awarded $53,374 in 1998

Aim: Test efficacy of naltrexone, a drug used to blunt cravings for alcohol, for treating pathological gambling. In 2002, the lead investigator was awarded $464,463 by the National Institute of Mental Health to expand this study.

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Kim, S.W. & Grant, J.E. (2001). An open naltrexone treatment study in pathological gambling disorder. International Clinical Psychopharmacology, 16, 285-289.

Kim, S.W. & Grant, J.E. (2001). The psychopharmacology of pathological gambling. Seminars in Clinical Neuropsychiatry, 6, 184-194.

Kim, S.W., Grant, J.E. & Adson, D.E. (2001). Double-blind naltrexone and placebo comparison study in the treatment of pathological gambling. Biological Psychiatry, 49, 914-921

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“Reward Deficiency ERPS: Effects of D2a1, Gambling Pathology and ADHD”

Principal Investigator: Charles A. Warren, Ph.D., University of Illinois at Chicago
Awarded $172,492 in 1999

Aim: Investigate whether certain event-related brain potential (ERP) abnormalities in response to gambling feedback might reflect a reward deficiency syndrome, whose severity theoretically is driven partly by presence of the dopamine D2 receptor gene, A1 variant (D2A1).

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“Functional MRI of Neural Responses to Monetary Gains, Losses and Prospects in Pathological Gamblers and Normal Subjects”

Principal Investigator: Hans Breiter, MD, Massachusetts General Hospital
Awarded $172,500 in 1999

Aim: Understand brain activation produced by a monetary reward in a gambling-like experiment. As a result of this grant support, the lead investigator received support from National Institutes of Health and the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

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Aharon, I., Etcoff, N., Ariely, D., Chabris, C. F., O’Connor, E., & Breiter, H. C. (2001). Beautiful faces have variable reward value: fMRI and behavioral evidence. Neuron, 32(3), 537-551.

Breiter, H. C., Aharon, I., Kahneman, D., Dale, A. & Shizgal, P. (2001). Functional imaging of neural responses to expectancy and experience of monetary gains and losses. Neuron, 30, 619-639.

Breiter, H., & Gasic, G. P. (2004). A general circuitry processing reward/aversion information and its implications for neuropsychiatric illness. In M. Gazzaniga (Ed.), The Cognitive Neurosciences, III (3rd ed., pp. 1043-1065). Cambridge: MIT Press.

Makris, N., Gasic, G.P., Seidman, L.J., Goldstein, J.M., Gastfriend, D.R., Elman, I., Albaugh, M.D., Hodge, S.M., Ziegler, D.A., Sheahan, F.S., Caviness, V.S., Tsuang, M.T., Kennedy, D.N., Hyman, S.E., Rosen, B.R., Breiter, H.C. (2004). Decreased absolute amygdala volume in cocaine addicts. Neuron, 4(4), 729-40.

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“The Development of a Diagnostic Gambling Assessment – The GAM-IV”

Principal Investigator: Renee Cunningham-Williams, Ph.D., Washington University, St. Louis
Awarded $112,021 in 1999

Aim: Develop and test a new assessment instrument for gambling disorder. The grant provided seed money that helped the lead investigator secure funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and National Institute of Mental Health.

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Cunningham-Williams, R.M., & Cottler, L. B. (2001). The epidemiology of pathological gambling. Seminars in Clinical Neuropsychiatry, 6, 155-166.

Cunningham-Williams, R.M., Cottler, L.B., & Womack, S.B. (2004). Epidemiology. In J.E. Grant and M.N. Potenza, Pathological gambling: A clinical guide to treatment, American Psychiatric Press, 25-36.

Cunningham-Williams, R.M., Grucza, R., Cottler, L.B., Womack, S.B., Books, S.J., Przybeck, T., Spitznagel, E.L., & Cloninger, R. (2005). Prevalence of pathological gambling among St. Louis area household residents. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 39, 377-90.

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“Affective, Cognitive and Perceptual Processes in Gambling: Differences between Pathological and Recreational Gamblers”

Principal Investigator: Lawrence E. Jones, Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Awarded $172,155 in 1999

Aim: Identify and describe several distinct “types” of gambling styles and strategies, including ones that will distinguish between subtypes of pathological gamblers.

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“Adolescent Understanding of the Emotional and Cognitive Aspects of Gambling: The Development of A Prevention Strategy”

Principal Investigator: Nigel E. Turner, Ph.D., Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto
Awarded $88,296 in 1999

Aim: Develop and test an interactive prevention package designed to enhance the students’ understanding of the role of randomness, probability and emotion in non-problem gambling. The findings were published in the Journal of Gambling Studies.

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Turner, N. E., Macdonald, J., & Somerset, M. (2008). Life skills, mathematical reasoning and critical thinking: A curriculum for the prevention of problem gambling. Journal of Gambling Studies, 24(3), 367-80.

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“Adolescent Gambling Behavior as a Function of Individual Differences in Risk-Taking and Potentially Life-Diminishing Behaviors, Gender, Peer and Family Context, and Community Norms For Legalized Gambling”

Principal Investigator: Jennifer Langhinrichsen-Rohling, Ph.D., University of South Alabama
Awarded $125,800 in 1999

Aim: Understand the role of demographic, individual, family, and peer variables in the development of gambling problems among adolescents.

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Langhinrichsen-Rohling, J. (2004). The associations among gambling, depression, and suicidal behavior in adolescents. In J. Derevensky and R. Gupta (Eds.), Gambling Problems in Youth: Theoretical and Applied Perspectives. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.

Langhinrichsen-Rohling, J., Rohde, P., Seeley, J. R., & Rohling, M. L. (2004). Individual, family, and peer correlates of adolescent gambling. Journal of Gambling Studies, 20, 23-46.

Langhinrichsen-Rohling, J., Rohling, M. L., Rohde, P., & Seeley, J. R. (2004). The SOGS-RA versus the MAGS-7: Prevalence estimates and classification congruence. Journal of Gambling Studies, 20, 259-281.

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“Pharmacological Priming of Gambling-Related Cognitions by Amphetamine”

Principal Investigator: Martin Zack, Ph.D., Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
Awarded $75,042 in 2000

Aim: Explore the role played by neurochemical activation in the development of gambling addiction.

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Zack, M. & Poulos, C.X. (2004). Amphetamine primes motivation to gamble and gambling-related semantic networks in problem gamblers. Neuropsychopharmacology, 29, 195-207.

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“Naltrexone and Citalopram Treatment of Pathological Gambling and Co-Morbid Alcohol Abuse or Dependence”

Principal Investigator: Marc N. Potenza, MD, Ph.D., Yale School of Medicine
Awarded $172,500 in 2000

Aim: Test the short-term tolerability and efficacy of the antidepressant citalopram, naltrexone (a drug used to blunt cravings for alcohol) and a citalopram/naltrexone combination pharmacotherapy in the treatment of dually diagnosed patients with pathological gambling and alcohol abuse or dependence.

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Potenza, M.N. (2001). The neurobiology of pathological gambling. Seminars in Clinical Neuropsychiatry, 6, 217-226.

Potenza, M.N. (2001). Pathological gambling: A present problem from the past. Psychiatric Times (online exclusive).

Potenza, M.N. (2002). A perspective on future directions in the prevention, treatment, and research of pathological gambling. Psychiatric Annals, 32, 203-207.

Potenza, M.N. (2003). Pathological gambling and impulse control disorders. In J. Soares & S. Gershon (Eds.), Medical Handbook of Psychiatry, pp. 683-700.

Potenza, M. N. (2005). Advancing Treatment Strategies for Pathological Gambling.
Journal of Gambling Studies, 21(1), 91-98.

Potenza, M.N. & Charney, D.S. (2001). Pathological gambling: A current perspective. Seminars in Clinical Neuropsychiatry, 6, 153-154.

Potenza, M.N., Fiellin, D. A., Heninger, G.R., Rounsaville, B.J., & Mazure, C.M. (2002). Gambling: An addictive behavior with health and primary care implications. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 17, 721-32.

Potenza, M.N. & Hollander, E. (2002). Pathological gambling and impulse control disorders. In C. Nemeroff, J. Coyle, D. Charney, & K. Davis (Eds.), Neuropsychopharmacology: The 5th Generation of Progress. Baltimore, MD: Lippincott, Williams and Wilkens.

Potenza, M.N., Kosten, T.R., & Rounsaville, B.J. (2001). Pathological gambling. Journal of the American Medical Association, 286, 141-144.

Potenza, M.N., Leung, H.C., Blumberg, H.P., Peterson, B.S., Fulbright, R.K., Lacadie, C.M., et al. (2003). An fMRI Stroop study of ventromedial prefrontal cortical function in pathological gamblers. American Journal of Psychiatry, 160, 1990-1994.

Potenza, M.N., Steinberg, M.A., Skudlarski, P., Fulbright, R.K., Lacadie, C.M., Wilber, M.K., et al. (2003). An fMRI study of gambling urges in pathological gamblers. Archives of General Psychiatry, 60(8), 828-836.

Potenza, M.N. & Wilber, M.K. (2001). Neuroimaging studies of pathological gambling and substance dependence. Psychiatric Times, 18(10): 58-64.

Potenza, M.N. & Winters, K.C. (2003). The neurobiology of pathological gambling: Translating research findings into clinical advances. Journal of Gambling Studies, 19, 7-10.

Chambers R. A., & Potenza, M.N., (2003). Impulse control disorders. In M.J. Aminoff & R.B. Daroff (Eds.), Encyclopedia of the Neurological Sciences (Vol. 2). San Diego, CA:  Academic Press.

Chambers, R. A. & Potenza, M.N., (2003). Neurodevelopment, impulsivity and adolescent gambling. Journal of Gambling Studies, 19, 53-84.

Chambers, R. A., Taylor, J.R. & Potenza, M.N. (2003). Developmental neurocircuitry of motivation in adolescence: A critical period of addiction vulnerability. American Journal of Psychiatry, 160, 1041-1052.

Grant, J.E., Kim, S.W., & Potenza, M.N. (2003). Advances in the pharmacological treatment of pathological gambling. Journal of Gambling Studies, 19, 85-109.

Grant, J. E., Kim, S.W., Potenza, M.N., Blanco, C., Ibanez, A., Stevens, L., et al. (2003). Paroxetine treatment of pathological gambling: A multi-centre randomized controlled trial. International Clinical Psychopharmacology, 18, 243-249.

Grant, J.E., & Potenza, M.N. (Eds). (2004). Pathological gambling: A clinical guide to treatment. Washington, DC:  American Psychiatric Press, Inc.

Shah, K.R., Eisen, S.A., Xian, H., Potenza, M.N. (2005). Genetic studies of pathological gambling: A review of methodology and analyses of data from the Vietnam Era Twin (VET) Registry. Journal of Gambling Studies, 21(2), 179-203.

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“A Family-Genetic Study of Pathological Gambling”

Principal Investigator: Donald W. Black, MD, University of Iowa
Awarded $169,929 in 2000

Aim: Understand the role that family history of gambling disorder plays in the development of pathological gambling. The investigator received a major grant from the National Institutes of Health in 2005 to continue the research.

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Black, D.W., & Monahan, P.O., Temkit, M., & Shaw, M. (2006). A family study of pathological gambling. Psychiatry Research, 141(3), 295-303.

Black, D.W., Moyer, T., & Schlosser, S. (2003). Quality of life and family history in pathological gambling. Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease, 191, 124-126.

Shaw, M.C., Forbush, K.T., Schlinder, J., Rosenman, E., & Black, D.W. (2007). The effect of pathological gambling on families, marriages, and children. CNS Spectrum, 12(8), 615-622.

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