Dr. Susana Jiménez is head of the Pathological Gambling Unit of the Department of Psychiatry-IDIBELL. University Hospital of Bellvitge, Barcelona.
In her speech, Dr Jiménez explained that behavioural addictions share all the addiction criteria of substances abuse and, similarly, create external conflict in the family and internal conflict in the individual. In recent years, some diagnostic aspects have changed, and the notion of this addiction has also evolved. However, the prevalence in Spain is on the increase, it is high and almost 1% of the population has this disorder, and the percentage is even higher in people who present a risky behaviour, since it reaches 4%. In the 14-18 age group, the prevalence is 10%, being higher in men.
Both in his daily clinical activity and in the research he conducts, he has noticed a profile change, which has changed from face-to-face gambling to on-line gambling, with a mixed group of patients, it starts with game using slot machines and when the gambling behaviour is already regulated, there is a jump to on-line gambling using mobile phones. Among young people, betting is the most prevalent form of gambling. An increase has been noted in the number of consultations requested by young people who state that they place sports bets. This increase is contributed to by a decrease in the perception of risk, which leads to a decrease in the age of onset of gambling and is associated with more complications and worse prognosis. Patients who gamble on sports tend to be male, educated, sporty and affluent. The problem with gambling is worsened when it is associated with the use of other drugs.
The psychopathological profile they present pointed out that the 57.5% present clinically significant scores of depression, low self-esteem, feelings of inferiority and emotional disturbance. In general, they observed high impulsivity and novelty seeking together with low self-control.
His research is related to the search for risk factors, discriminating between those who gamble online or bet on sports, or to find out if there are subtypes of profiles among subjects with pathological gambling disorder. He pointed out that in all pathological gambling disorders there is an interaction between biological, social, psychological, and environmental factors, where the risk increases with the availability. Then, the appropriate model to study this disorder will be bio-psycho-social.
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