With the use of a new technology for neuroimaging brain activity, Danish researchers have recently revealed that communication between parts of the brain simply don’t work properly among pathological gamblers. Gamblers with a substance abuse reveal even larger brain anomalies.
This brain dysfunction results in a serious lack of self-awareness and self-control. This could explain why compulsive gamblers have difficulty in giving up their habits even after they become destructive.
There are currently no findings that can prove whether this dysfunction is something certain people are born with or if it is something that develops as a result of behavior, according to professor Lou Hans at the Aarhus University’s Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience.
Although these sensational findings shed new light on gambling addiction, it is too early to determine what impact they may have on treatment of addicts.
“The purpose of the study was in its origin purely scientific, but we realize that it may be useful for understanding and possibly in treating abnormalities that have impaired self-awareness and self-control as a main symptom,” says Professor Lou. He is optimistic that their research may in time have some clinical significance also in areas such as ADHD, autism, schizophrenia, dementia and other addictions.
The findings in the study were published the article “Altered Paralimbic Interaction in Behavioral Addiction” in the scientific journal PNAS.