The Role of Impulsivity and Addiction in Gambling Behaviors: How Applied Neuroscience Research Can Help in the Monitoring and Management of Mental Health Issues
One
in five Americans experience symptoms associated with at least one mental health disorder every year. These include behavioral addictions,
which have long been overlooked despite their similar neural bases with substance
addictions. Gambling addiction, a type of behavioral addiction, deserves
particular attention given the significant
negative effects,this addiction has on financial and interpersonal
health. The purpose of this paper is to review the available literature
concerning the behavioral and neural processes involved in gambling addiction,
including: the anticipation of reward, the role of dopamine, and the neural
substrates of the decision-making processes involved in gambling addiction.
Market research has also identified solutions that integrate applied
neuroscience and self-tracking systems to monitor and manage mental health issues associated with gambling
addiction. The authors then propose a
gambling treatment-focused mobile app solution that addresses outstanding issues with a special design aimed at reversing plasticity in order
to relieve the effects of gambling addiction.
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