SynthesisBritish journal of clinical pharmacology2014
Pharmacological treatments in pathological gambling.
Synthesis in British journal of clinical pharmacology, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 79 citations in OpenAlex.
- Betting on the Future: A Systematic Review of Modern Gambling Interventions for College Students.Journal of gambling studies · 2025Pooled it
- Pharmacological interventions for the treatment of disordered and problem gambling.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Shared gray matter alterations in individuals with diverse behavioral addictions: A voxel-wise meta-analysis.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2020Pooled it
- Pharmacological Treatments for Disordered Gambling: A Meta-analysis.Journal of gambling studies · 2019Pooled it
- Measuring treatment outcomes in gambling disorders: a systematic review.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2018Pooled it
- Opioid Antagonists for Pharmacological Treatment of Gambling Disorder: Are they Relevant?Current neuropharmacology · 2018Pooled it
- Both active and sham low-frequency rTMS single sessions over the right DLPFC decrease cue-induced cravings among pathological gamblers seeking treatment: A randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled crossover trial.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2018Trial
- Topiramate Combined with Cognitive Restructuring for the Treatment of Gambling Disorder: A Two-Center, Randomized, Double-Blind Clinical Trial.Journal of gambling studies · 2017Trial
- Gambling disorder comorbidity a narrative review.Dialogues in clinical neuroscience · 2025Review
- A Systematic Review of Pharmacological Treatments for Internet Gaming Disorder.Psychiatry investigation · 2023Article
- Latent profile analysis of gambling.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Religious and spiritual beliefs and attitudes towards addiction and addiction treatment: A scoping review.Addictive behaviors reports · 2021Article
- Caudate nucleus volume mediates the link between glutamatergic neurotransmission and problematic smartphone use in youth.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2021Article
- Effects of 5-HTPsychopharmacology · 2020Article
- Designing and Evaluating the Validity and Reliability of the Persian Gambling Disorder Screening Questionnaire.Addiction & health · 2019Article
- Chronic treatment with N-acetylcysteine decreases extinction responding and reduces cue-induced nicotine-seeking.Physiological reports · 2019Article
- The use of naltrexone in pathological and problem gambling: A UK case series.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2018Article
- Problem Gambling among Young People in Sub-Saharan Africa.Frontiers in public health · 2018Article
- Effects of disulfiram on choice behavior in a rodent gambling task: association with catecholamine levels.Psychopharmacology · 2018Article
- An overview of gambling disorder: from treatment approaches to risk factors.F1000Research · 2018Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Pathological gambling (PG) is a relatively common and often disabling psychiatric condition characterized by intrusive urges to engage in deleterious gambling behaviour. Although common and financially devastating to individuals and families, there currently exist no formally approved pharmacotherapeutic interventions for this disorder. This review seeks to examine the history of medication treatments for PG. A systematic review of the 18 double-blind, placebo-controlled pharmacotherapy studies conducted for the treatment of pathological gambling was conducted. Study outcome and the mean dose of medication administered was documented in an effort to determine a preferred medication choice in this population. A variety of medication classes have been examined in the treatment of PG with varying results. Antidepressants, atypical antipsychotics and mood stabilizers have demonstrated mixed results in controlled clinical trials. Although limited information is available, opioid antagonists and glutamatergic agents have demonstrated efficacious outcomes, especially for individuals with PG suffering from intense urges to engage in the behaviour. Given that several studies have demonstrated their efficacy in treating the symptoms associated with PG, opioid antagonists should be considered the first line treatment for PG at this time. Most published studies, however, have employed relatively small sample sizes, are of limited duration and involve possibly non-representative clinical groups (e.g. those without co-occurring psychiatric disorders). Response measures have varied across studies. Heterogeneity of PG treatment samples may also complicate identification of effective treatments. Identification of factors related to treatment response will help inform future studies and advance treatment strategies for PG.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.