Affective disorders among pathological gamblers seeking treatment

Clinical impressions and psychological testing suggest that pathological gamblers demonstrate a high incidence of affective disorders. To assess the frequency of such disorders, the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia was administered to 50 patients admitted successively to the gambling treatment program of a VA hospital. Seventy-six percent of the subjects were diagnosed as having major depressive disorder and 38% as having hypomanic disorder according to the Research Diagnostic Criteria. The patients with major depressive disorder and one patient with schizoaffective disorder, depressed type, were significantly more likely to miss work often due to gambling. A large number of patients displayed suicidal tendencies.