Is excessive gambling seen as a form of dependence? Evidence from the community and the clinic

Data from two studies are used to examine the proposition that excessive gambling, unlike excessive substance use, is not generally viewed as a form of dependence. In the first study, the attitudes of 100 members of the general population towards the causes of excess and towards appropriate treatments, indicated that excessive gambling was seen in more moral terms than were other addictive behaviours. In the second study, of 54 people receiving treatment for one of four forms of excessive behaviour, gamblers were just as likely to use terms such as 'addiction' or 'compulsion' to describe their behaviour but were also more likely than others to describe it in terms of moral weakness or vice. Concern is expressed at the way in which gambling may be marginalized as a form of dependence.