Dr. Donald Legan is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist. He is a member of the medical faculty at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria. There he trains physicians during their residency in family practice about addiction disorders. Dr. Legan also maintains a private practice where he treats adults and adolescents for a wide variety of mental disorders.

Dr. Legan has been the consulting clinical psychologist for the Illinois Institute for Addiction Recovery at Proctor Hospital since 1979. Since 1970, he has diagnosed and treated over 15,000 adults and adolescents. In his experience, working with addictions, he believes that although the substance/behavior may differ with respect to cocaine, alcohol, food gambling, sex, etc., the process of addiction is very similar and includes loss of control, tolerance, an inability to quit on one's own and preoccupation with the substance and/or behavior.

Dr. Legan is currently conducting research and collecting data on pathological gambling. Through statistical analysis of his data, he plans to develop an assessment instrument that would be helpful in identifying pathological gamblers and those people who may be at high risk for pathological gambling.

Dr. Legan recently authored an article, which appeared in the summer 1998 issue of Paradigm, entitled "Psychological Assessment in the Treatment of Addictions."