NHS must recognise gambling addiction
Gambling frightens me. I don’t think of myself as having an addictive personality or as being more than averagely obsessive, but I feel instinctively that if I started gambling I’d have a hard job stopping. I’d be addicted in no time.
So is gambling an addiction? An illness? The British Medical Journal seems to think so.
In 2014 the Royal College of Psychiatrists called it a “hidden addiction”. But since then the media has drawn attention to it and its links to crime and mental illness – especially depression and suicide.
In 2016 a report showed clear links between problem gambling and violence in men.
Earlier this year, a report focused on the high prevalence of problem gambling among young men.
About 300,000 people in Britain have a problem with gambling, most of whom are men. Another 540,000 people are at risk of it.
These numbers, however, don’t reflect the additional harm caused to families, friends, work colleagues and employers.
People with a gambling disorder may have gambled away their family home or incurred debts so serious they’re no longer able to pay the rent or mortgage.
They may have lost contact with their partner and children and become homeless, depressed, even suicidal.
In trying to recoup lost funds a gambling disorder can lead to crime and violence.
One strategy that’s been applauded is early intervention. The sooner the gambling habit can be broken the quicker the addiction can be brought under control.
Early treatment with cognitive behaviour therapy is crucial. The drug naltrexone is used if CBT doesn’t work.
But treatment within the NHS will only happen if gambling disorder is recognised as a mental illness. And at present the stumbling block is that it isn’t given that status.
Many rely on the charity Gamble Aware, which provides financial support to 19 treatment providers, with money from voluntary donations made by the gambling industry.
The independent Responsible Gambling Strategy Board highlights our responsibility to protect vulnerable people from gambling harm.
However, even with a wealth of information and pressure from various professional groups, the NHS still fails to include it under its umbrella and provide treatment.
Problem gambling may have been a hidden illness in the past but it’s now large, visible and accepted. It’s surely time for it to be recognised and treated by the state.
It’s also time that the gambling industry stepped up to the plate and supplied more money for charities and independent health trusts to treat problem gambling.