Mood and Anxiety Disorders Are the Most Prevalent Psychiatric Disorders among Pathological and Recovered Gamblers

Psychiatric disorders among pathological and problem gamblers, especially mood and anxiety, are especially prevalent. Little is known about the rates of psychopathology in active and recovered problem gamblers. The goal of the present study was to compare the rates of lifetime and concurrent psychiatric comorbidity in a sample of problem and recovered gamblers in the community, controlling for severity and duration of the gambling problem. In this study a sample of community-recruited pathological and untreated but recovered gamblers were assessed with a validated structured clinical interview. Consistent with previous research high rates of mood and anxiety disorders, both current and lifetime, were found among current and recovered problem gamblers. Lifetime psychopathology was not a significant predictor of gambling status. The variables that significantly predicted PG or RG were prior history of drug problems and a positive family history for problem gambling.