As with alcoholics, only a small fraction of pathological gamblers receives the appropriate support and treatment. Educational seminars to raise awareness among physicians and targeted measures for early detection might result in more of the affected persons getting suitable help.

No abstract

In Germany, there are two different approaches to inpatient treatment of pathological gambling (PG): Facilities focusing on addiction or on psychosomatic illness. However, little is known about how these differences influence utilization and structure of treatment. Therefore, in our study, we analyzed all known German gambling inpatient treatment centers concerning patients' sex, age and number of comorbid disorders and evaluated an expert assessment of the treatment system, access to treatment, and structure characteristics of inpatient treatment facilities. In 2011, 2,229 pathological gamblers were treated. This amounts to 1 % of all past-year pathological gamblers. 90 % of the patients were men, 93 % had at least one comorbid disorder. Access to treatment was mostly gained via psychosocial counseling centers, but was not readily available. Facilities with addiction departments treated less pathological gamblers per year (29.3 gamblers) than facilities with psychosomatic departments (53.3 gamblers) or with both departments (76.4 gamblers). Treatment duration was significantly longer in addiction departments treating PG as secondary diagnosis only, with a low rate of gamblers on all patients, or treating few gamblers. Some facilities specialized on PG and treated more gamblers, had a higher rate of gamblers on all patients, and offered specific treatment programs. The impact of this specialization on treatment outcome is still unclear. Although treatment numbers have risen steadily for the past years, only a small fraction of affected gamblers seek inpatient treatment. Therefore, awareness to the disease and access to treatment needs to be improved.

Based on American studies lifetime prevalence of 'Pathological Gambling' (ICD-10, F 63.0) in Germany can be estimated at 0.5 %. That means about 400,000 gamblers requiring treatment. Epidemiological studies showed that only a little proportion is actually seeking treatment. Reliable knowledge about treatment prevalence does not exist for Germany. The study at hand using secondary data was performed to validate the estimation of the 'Deutsche Suchthilfestatistik' regarding inpatient and outpatient treatment prevalence in 'Pathological Gambling' with data from service providers (cost unit). The analysis proves the estimation of the German Addiction Statistics ('Deutsche Suchthilfestatistik') that the inpatient treatment prevalence has considerably risen. In spite of the consideration that treatment of pathological gambling is not limited to specialized hospitals there is still a considerable gap between estimated prevalence and treatment prevalence.

Ziel: Beschreibung der regionalen Besonderheiten bei der Patientenstruktur sowie des Erfolges der stationären Entzugsbehandlung bei Abhängigkeit von Opioiden in Bayern. </P><P> Methodik: Mit einem von Klinikärzten ausgefüllten Fragebogen wurden Daten zu Zugangsart, Drogenkonsum, Therapieart, Entlassungsstatus, Wartezeit und Verweildauer von 2.387 Patienten erhoben. </P><P> Ergebnisse: Die durchschnittliche Verweildauer betrug 15 Tage, über 60 % der Patienten wurden nicht-regulär entlassen. Frauen warteten signifikant länger auf einen Entzugsplatz und verließen häufiger als nicht abstinent die Klinik. Als Prädiktoren für irreguläre Entlassung erwiesen sich Heroin- und Benzodiazepinabhängigkeit, ferner jüngeres Alter und Substitutionsbehandlung. </P><P> Schlussfolgerung: Wegen schlechterer Therapieergebnisse der Frauen sind Ursachenforschung und spezielle Therapieschwerpunkte unerlässlich.