Topiramate Trial for Pathological Gamblers

Inclusion Criteria:

• current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual Fourth Edition Text Revised (DSM-IV-TR) diagnosis of pathological gambling
• a betting frequency of at least once a week in the last 30 days
• women within fertility age had to be already practicing an acceptable contraception method and to be negative at a pregnancy test.

Exclusion Criteria:

• illiteracy
• breastfeeding for women
• previous history of alcohol abuse/dependence with current elevation of liver enzymes, or a present diagnosis of alcohol abuse/dependence
• past or current drug abuse/dependence, except for nicotine dependence
• history of current or past DSM-IV-TR diagnosis of bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, psychosis or any neuropsychiatric condition causing cognitive impairment
• a history of suicide attempt or acute suicide risk
• severe depression indicated by a score equal to or higher than 30 at the Beck Depression Inventory
• current participation in psychotherapy for pathological gambling, including Gamblers Anonymous in the past 3 months
• current use of mood stabilizers, antidepressants, antipsychotics, except occasional use of benzodiazepines
• cardiovascular disease including a history of heart attack, stroke, arrhythmia, cardiac failure in the past 5 years
• chronic or acute renal and liver failure
• a personal or family history of nephrolithiasis
• immunodeficiency
• any blood dyscrasia.