of the addiction aids the problem gambler in maintaining the deception.While psychiatrys official diagnostic manual classifies pathological gambling as a disorder of impulse control, like the need to steal or set fires, new data directly challenges that view. The first study of pathological gamblers to use sophisticated medical techniques has found that they may suffer from disturbances in their central nervous systems.The study showed that the gamblers had lower levels than usual of the brain chemicals that regulate arousal, thrill and excitement. They may engage in activities in the noradrenergic system, which secretes them. Chronic gamblers like sky divers and those who take to other high-risk sports are more prone to thrill seeking than most people (New York Times, October 3, 1989). Pathological gamblers seem to be driven by the need for the thrill; it stimulates an under active noradrenergic system, said Dr. Alec Roy, a psychiatrist formerly at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Dr. Roy did the new study with the institutes co-director Markku Linnoila, a psychiatrist. It was published in the August issue of The Archives of General Psychiatry.In the study, 17 chronic gamblers, many of whom were in legal trouble because of crimes they had committed to pay gambling debts, came for tests and observation at the institute. Using urine samples and spinal taps, the researchers determined that there was a significant deficit in levels of a byproduct of the brain chemical norepinephrine. Norepinephrine is secreted under stress, as in moments of great risk or intense excitement. Some brain researchers think such a deficit can lead to a need to engage in activities like risky, exciting games that will stimulate the brain to secrete more of it.If gamblers have an abnormality of the adrenergic system, it could make them seek the excitement of gambling as a way to increase their norepinephrine levels, said Dr. Roy. H...
