Naltrexone Treatment for Gambling Addicts

A gambling addition is a condition that can be as crippling to the gambler as drinking is to an alcoholic. Chronic gamblers can run up thousands of dollars in debt and the compulsion can drive away friends and family. Research is now being done into naltrexone, a drug used to treat alcohol addiction, to determine whether it can help gamblers.

Toronto Study

• Positive results were obtained during a study associated with the Center for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, Canada. Researchers studied 52 subjects, mostly male, in a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. This means that neither the researchers nor the participants knew who was receiving the actual medication. Test subjects received 11 weeks of medication, but also received cognitive-behavioral counseling. The group receiving medication reported less intense urges to gamble and less frequent gambling. By the time of the follow-up one year later, however, there were no significant differences in the behaviors between the group that had received medication and the group that had received the placebo when comparing the frequency or quantity of gambling.

University of Michigan Study

• A study conducted at the University of Michigan compared the results of naltrexone treatment against a placebo, originally using 77 test subjects. The study was also a double-blind study. Both men and women were included in the study, ranging in age from 18 to 75. All participants reported having problems controlling their gambling, and gambled anywhere from six to 32 hours a week.
  The study lasted 18 weeks. A total of 58 people received naltrexone daily, with doses ranging from 50 to 150mg. Of these 58 participants, 49 people completed the study. Forty percent of the people that completed the study quit gambling completely for at least a month, and reported that the urge to gamble was less intense. The remaining 19 participants were given a placebo. Of that group, only 10.5 percent abstained from gambling.
  The study also compared the effectiveness of different dosages of naltrexone, comparing doses of 50, 100 or 150mg. Dosage did not appear to affect the results. The results were similar between male and female patients, and few patients reported adverse side effects.

Combination Therapy

• University of Michigan researchers did further review of results received comparing naltrexone therapy with the antidepressants known as SSRIs, also known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. They reviewed the charts of 50 adult outpatients that had been treated for pathological gambling in clinical practice, and compared results obtained with various treatment regimens. Some patients had received psychotherapy as part of their treatment, but all had received medication.
  The average amount of time needed before treatment was effective was 104.9 days. Ninety-one percent of patients had a positive response to naltrexone treatment alone, compared to only 45.5 percent of patients treated only with an SSRI. The study indicates that gambling symptoms can effectively be relieved with naltrexone or a combination of naltrexone with an SSRI.