Gambling, gambling disorder and over-indebtedness - a multi-professional congress on a complex problem in society, in legislation and in clinical settings

Gambling disorder is a much more recent research topic in Sweden, compared to alcohol and drug use disorders.

Only in 2018, treatment of gambling disorder became a formal responsibility for Swedish social services and health care facilities, and the digitalization occurring in the gambling market in recent years has presented entirely new challenges to policy making and public health work in the area of problem gambling.

The need for research and dissemination of knowledge in this area is therefore large. Also, only in recent years, over-indebtedness has started to be discussed as a public health issue.

Recent research has demonstrated that over-indebtedness can be linked to suicide and suicide attempts, as well as to other psycho-social and medical consequences. Therefore, this area also needs to be highlighted and discussed to a larger extent.

There are few research environments in Sweden who can gather researchers and practitioners from several diverse disciplines of relevance to the fields of gambling disorder and over-indebtedness.

Our research environment represents - on its own and through close collaborations - research in medicine/psychiatry, social work, psychology, neurobiology, addiction medicine, history, and bio-statistics, and combines both quantitative and qualitative research methods.

In addition, our research environment has close connections to clinical work - which few research group do in this area - as well as to social work in practice with individuals who are affected and with their concerned significant others, in the social services of the municipalities.

Our research environment also has connections to policy makers, relevant government authorities and politicians, and the state-owned operator in the gambling market.

Combining these larger policy perspective with a hands-on clinical practice - manifested through our regional treatment units for gambling disorder and for gaming disorder - is rare.