Comorbid psychiatric symptoms in pathological gamblers: Anxiety, depression and substance abuse

Pinhas Dannon*, Marina Sason, Bosmat Shalgi, Lali Tusan, Yafa Sapir, Moshe Kotler

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

Over the centuries, gambling behaviour has been well known and characterized by the combination of pleasure, luck and competition. Our study explored the relationship between pathological gambling, depression and anxiety. We also explored demographic findings and behavioural patterns of the pathological gamblers. Fourty-seven patients were included in this study and they anonymously completed questionnaires which included demographic findings, the Hamilton depression rating scale and the Hamilton anxiety rating scale. The study results demonstrated a strong correlation between depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and pathological gambling. It also presented lower income and higher anxiety levels associated with a higher tendency for gambling. The subjects suffering from depression and anxiety also showed higher levels of suicidality and other abuse dependencies. In order to confirm these preliminary results larger studies are needed in this field.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)643-646
Number of pages4
JournalHarefuah
Volume143
Issue number9
StatePublished - Sep 2004
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Anxiety
  • Dependence
  • Depression
  • Pathological gambling
  • Psycopharmacosocial treatment

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