AUTHOR=Håkansson Anders , Mårdhed Emma , Zaar Mats 

TITLE=Who Seeks Treatment When Medicine Opens the Door to Pathological Gambling Patients—Psychiatric Comorbidity and Heavy Predominance of Online Gambling

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry

VOLUME=8

YEAR=2017

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2017.00255

DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2017.00255

ISSN=1664-0640

ABSTRACT=<sec id="ST1"><title>Background</title><p>Few studies have assessed treatment-seeking behavior and patient characteristics in pathological gambling focusing on psychiatric comorbidity, particularly in a setting of heavy exposure to online gambling. This study aimed to address patient characteristics in a novel health care-based treatment modality for pathological gambling, including potential associations between gambling types, psychiatric comorbidity, and gender.</p></sec><sec id="ST2"><title>Methods</title><p>All patients undergoing structured assessment between January 2016 and April 2017 were included (<italic>N</italic> = 106), and patient records were reviewed for cooccurring psychiatric disorders and types of problem games.</p></sec><sec id="ST3"><title>Results</title><p>Eighty percent were men, and 58% received a psychiatric disorder apart from pathological gambling. Problematic gambling on online casino and online sports betting represented 84% of patients. Non-substance-related psychiatric comorbidity was significantly associated with female gender.</p></sec><sec id="ST4"><title>Conclusion</title><p>Online gambling is more clearly predominating in this setting than in studies from other countries. High rates of comorbidity call for structured psychiatric assessment in problem gambling, with a particular focus on female patients with pathological gambling.</p></sec>