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One of the goals of addiction research is to understand underlying causes, whether they be endogenous causes or environmental. The general consensus these days is that addiction is a complex disorder in which genetics, biology, brain chemistry, environment, and psychological makeup contribute to compulsive behaviors.

A class action in Australia claims something else might lead to gambling or sex addiction: the Parkinson’s drugs Cabaser and Permax. Over 100 victims have brought the suit against Pfizer Australia and Aspen Pharmacare. Their lawyers will claim that the two drug companies breached a duty of care to the customers.

Studies in the United States in 2009 found connections between the dopamine agent in drugs used to treat Parkinson’s Disease and compulsive behavior such as gambling, excessive shopping, pornography addiction, overeating, obsessive focus on a hobby or interest, and hypersexuality. Dr. Michael Bostwick of the Mayo Clinic and his colleagues found in a study that approximately 10% of participants taking either pramipexole (Mirapex) or ropinirole developed compulsive behaviors. The behaviors stopped when they stopped taking the medication or began taking a lower dose.

Years earlier, researchers were warning of a connection between dopamine agonists and compulsive gambling. A report in the Archives of Neurology in 2005 found that seven of 11 Parkinson’s patients developed pathological gambling behavior within one to three months after beginning or increasing the use of the drug. Four other patients developed it 12-30 months after beginning therapy. The issues resolved within a month of stopping the medication.

"In summary, dopamine agonist drugs appear to be uniquely implicated as a cause of pathological gambling," the researchers concluded.

In May 2010 a study led by Dr. Daniel Weintraub at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia confirmed the association between dopamine agonists in a large, systematic survey. They interviewed over 3,000 Parkinson’s patients being treated for movement disorders at 46 different clinics in the United States and Canada.
Prevalences of the most common impulse control disorders in the new study were compulsive gambling, 5%; compulsive sexual behavior, 3.5%; compulsive shopping, 5.7%; binge eating, 4.3%.