There is no doubt that excessive gambling can cause a huge mental, personal, and financial toll for the gambler and the members of their family. The nature of excessive gambling and whether it constitutes a disorder has been the subject of much research, debate, and controversy in recent years. Originally included with impulse control disorders as "pathological gambling" in the American Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM), it has in the most recent edition, DSM-5, been included in the addictive disorders section with various psychoactive substance use disorders.
Bipolar disorder is characterized by significant fluctuations in a person's mood, which may occur for no apparent reason. It tends to persist and people affected by it have phases when they are very happy and active, and phases when they are feeling very sad and hopeless, with often normal moods in between. Some people with bipolar disorder like the "high" phase so much that they may take no action until their mood is so elevated that they are hypomanic or even manic. In the "down" phase the person feels pervasively sad and may slump into a severe depression and feel life is closing in around them. Bipolar disorder typically starts in a person's late teen or early adult years.
Read moreWhat are addictive disorders? Are they indeed disorders? The nature of problematic psychoactive substance use continues to be a matter of controversy among the public and politicians; even among health professionals there is little consensus. Some have a view that repeated use of a substance (or gambling or gaming) represents personal choice (a "free-will decision") even when problems are occurring.
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