Contributo alla storia del disturbo da gioco d’azzardo in età moderna

(Un caso documentato a Tropea nel XVII secolo)

Abstract

Gambling Disorder (GD) is a relatively recently recognized pathology and it represents a behavioral disorder on the rise in younger individuals. Data from the Ministry of Health attest that until July 2021 in Italy, gambling affected a population of 5.2 million players defined as “habitual”, of which about 1.2 million developed addiction. Although the devastating effects on people’s lives have always been known, in ancient times it was considered simply a “vice”. There was an effective method to counteract it since psychotherapy was adopted only with its official recognition by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) in 1980. However, a very eloquent testimony of this symptomatic condition can be found in the intertwines with the daily events of Tropea in the seventeenth century, telling an authentic story from the peculiar characteristics on how this disorder could be dealt with before the advent of the modern psychology. A bond, drawn up by the notary Francesco Scrugli who lived in Tropea at that time period and preserved at the State Archives of Vibo Valentia transmits a fragment of the life of people who lived centuries ago and how they reacted, with the tools of the time, to the problems that we face even today