Danger of Suicide Gambling Confirmed
20th November, 2007
Dr Angus Thompson, a former U of A professor now with the Department of Public Health at Flinders University in Australia and Dr Stephen Newman, a psychiatry professor at the U of A together wrote an academic article that proved that gambling addicts are 3.4 times more likely to commit suicide when compared to the average Canadian citizen.
The professors based their research on the data from the Canadian Community Health Survey to link gambling addiction and suicide. The sample consisted of nearly 37,000 Canadians aged 15 and above. They had to answer questions and elaborate on various issues concerning mental health. The researchers also referenced previous study conducted in 2003 with a sample of 7000 adults from Edmonton. They used the study’s findings, as it was exploring similar topics.
They found out that the two variables, gambling addiction and suicide have a strong correlation between them. “This study of a very large number of Canadians, coupled with our earlier investigation [...], showed a very simple and important fact: that suicidal behavior, mental illness, and severe gambling problems are interrelated. Our studies were the first, we believe, to show [the relationship] in a community sample, which is much less biased than observations on a clinical sample or than recollections or hearsay,” Thompson explained.
The researches claim that problem gamblers have a higher tendency of suicidal thoughts and have had attempted to kill themselves in the past. Thompson explains: “Having ruled out the influence of a number of other factors, we still found that the odds for a suicide attempt are about 3.4 times higher among pathological gamblers than among others.”
The gambling industry has been growing rapidly in Alberta in recent years, including children as young as 12, according to the Problem Gambling Resources Network of Alberta (PGRN). Nevertheless Thomson claims that to start solving the problem, the initial reasons for gambling addiction are not enough to concentrate on. “Other studies have shown that most social problems are, in fact, related. So, the trick might be to find out what underpins them all, rather than focusing on separate causes for gambling, suicide, substance abuse, and so on,” he said.
Thompson said that despite the fact that the study did not explore the cause and effect, it clearly shows there is a correlation between tendencies to suicide and pathological gambling, which is what many anti-gambling establishments were waiting for. The research also included other factors that could cause suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts being carried out. Factors such as alcoholism, mental health problems, and economic instability, all of which are usually associated with pathological gambling problems. The sample showed that there is 8.5 times more possibility of suicide for those who are involved in any of the above compared to the rest of the citizens.
Thompson explains: “The evidence overall is that gambling in the form of casinos is a social evil, and because of its [...] addictive nature, it is not about freedom of choice. Gambling is not about the exercise of free choice in the way we ordinarily conceive it—at least [not] any more than it is for an addict taking heroin or an alcoholic having another drink.”
