Clinical differences of mild, moderate, and severe gambling disorder in a sample of treatment seeking pathological gamblers in Sweden (2023)

INTRODUCTION: Gambling disorder (GD) is classified among the addictive disorders in the DSM-5 and the severity of the diagnosis can be specified as mild, moderate and severe. It has been seen that individuals with more severe gambling problems have a higher rate of comorbid disorders and other health problems compared to individuals with a milder clinical picture.
AIMS: The aim of this study was to explore clinical psychiatric differences related to the severity of disorder in treatment-seeking patients with GD.
METHOD: A sample of 163 patients with GD seeking treatment at an outpatient clinic was diagnosed using the SCI-GD, screened for comorbid diagnoses using the MINI, and further completed a range of self-report questionnaires measuring alcohol-, and drug-problems, symptoms of depression and anxiety, emotion regulation, cognitive distortions, and quality of life.
RESULTS: Greater severity was associated to more problems with alcohol and illicit drugs. Severe gamblers were more likely to gamble to "escape", and had more symptoms of depression and anxiety. Participants with moderate and severe gambling disorder had more difficulties with emotion regulation. Cognitive distortions were the same between severities. All groups had Quality-of-Life problems at a clinical level.
DISCUSSION: There are some distinctive differences between GD of different severities. The features shown by patients with severe GD indicates a more emotionally vulnerable group with increased symptom severity. Further knowledge about the features of GD severity levels is important for treatment planning in the clinic.