✦ LIBER ✦

Towards DSM-V: considering other withdrawal-like symptoms of pathological gambling disorder

✍ Scribed by Renee M. Cunningham-Williams; Maurice N. Gattis; Peter M. Dore; Peichang Shi; Edward L. Spitznagel Jr

Book ID: 102525244
Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
Year: 2009
Tongue: English
Weight: 159 KB
Volume: 18
Category: Article
ISSN: 1049-8931
DOI: 10.1002/mpr.273

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✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Despite clinical reports of other withdrawal‐like symptoms, the DSM‐IV considers only restlessness/irritability as a withdrawal‐like criterion comprising pathological gambling disorder (PGD). We explored whether this criterion should be broadened to include other gambling withdrawal‐like symptoms.

Community‐recruited adult gamblers (n = 312) participated in telephone interviews about gambling and related behaviors as a part of a larger psychometric study. Frequency and chi‐square analyses described the association of gambling withdrawal‐like symptoms by gambling disorder status. Multinomial forward selection logistic regression obtained a multivariate model describing the simultaneous relationship between these symptoms and gambling disorder status.

One‐quarter of the sample experienced the DSM‐IV PGD criterion of restlessness/irritability. However, 41% experienced additional gambling withdrawal‐like symptoms when attempting to quit or control gambling. A model including restlessness/irritability and three additional non‐DSM‐IV withdrawal‐like symptoms (i.e. feelings of anger, guilt, and disappointment) is a stronger model of gambling disorder (χ^2^ = 217.488; df = 8, p < 0.0001; R^2^ = 0.5428; p < 0.0001) than restlessness/irritability alone (χ^2^ = 151.278; df = 2, p < 0.0001; R^2^ = 0.4133). The overlap of gambling withdrawal‐like symptoms with substance use withdrawal (11%) and depressive symptoms (34%) failed to fully account for these associations with gambling disorder status.