What do sex addicts and people with gambling disorder have in common? A team of scientists from Spain recently looked at the similarities and differences between the two groups.
Over an 8-year period, they collected data from 2,342 people, mostly men with an average age of 42. Fifty-nine patients were being treated for sex addiction and 2,190 were in treatment for gambling disorder. The remaining 93 people did not have addiction problems. Their data was used for comparison.
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Sex addicts and gambling addicts share some common traits. (Click to tweet)
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All of the participants had face-to-face interviews with researchers and completed questionnaires.
Results for the participants with sex addiction and gambling disorder were quite similar. These two groups shared traits such as depression, anxiety, and hostility, which were not found to the same degree in the healthy control group. The treatment groups were also more likely to feel psychological distress.
However, the sex addiction group tended to have a higher level of education and higher socioeconomic status. Also, they generally scored lower on assessments of novelty-seeking, harm avoidance, persistence, and cooperativeness.
These findings may help doctors and addiction specialists better understand the characteristics of both sex addicts and patients with gambling disorder.
To learn more about sex addiction, please see the following links:
Study Examines Brain Activity of Sex Addicts
Resources
Comprehensive Psychiatry
Farré, J.M., et al.
“Sex addiction and gambling disorder: similarities and differences”
(Abstract. January 2015)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25459420
Family Practice News
Moon, Mary Ann
“Sex addiction, gambling disorder share similarities”
(January 27, 2015)
http://www.familypracticenews.com/single-article/sex-addiction-gambling-disorder-share-similarities/27089b5ee37126ecbf8b514845ceb9b2.html
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