Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2025 Dec;27(1):1-18.
doi: 10.1080/19585969.2025.2484288. Epub 2025 Apr 3.

Gambling disorder comorbidity a narrative review

Rishi Sharma  1 , Aviv Weinstein  1
Affiliations
Review

Gambling disorder comorbidity a narrative review

Rishi Sharma et al. Dialogues Clin Neurosci. 2025 Dec.

Abstract

Introduction: Problematic and pathological gambling (PG) lead to major adverse consequences for individuals, their families, and society and is highly comorbid with numerous other mental health disorders.

Methods: This narrative review summarized population-based, cross-sectional, treatment and prospective studies on gambling disorder and comorbidity over the past 14 years.

Results: These studies show a high rate of comorbidity of PG and substance and alcohol use disorders, mood and anxiety disorders. Prospective studies indicate that, in some cases, gambling precedes the onset of the comorbid disorder, while in other instances, the temporal relationship is reversed. Women face greater psychiatric comorbidity and are more likely to have mood disorders, suicidality, mania, anxiety and alcohol dependence. Treatment of PG can be effective by improving the gambling and depressive symptoms of PG.

Conclusions: Over the past 15 years, significant progress has been made in understanding and treating GD and its psychiatric comorbidities, with evidence highlighting the reciprocal relationships between GD and conditions like substance use, mood and anxiety disorders.

Keywords: Gambling disorder; alcohol and drug use disorder; anxiety; comorbidity; mood disorders; problematic gambling.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

No potential competing interest was reported by the authors.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Study selection flowchart.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Afifi TO, Cox BJ, Martens PJ, Sareen J, Enns MW.. 2010. The relationship between problem gambling and mental and physical health correlates among a nationally representative sample of Canadian women. Can J Public Health. 101(2):171–175. doi: 10.1007/BF03404366. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Afifi TO, Nicholson R, Martins SS, Sareen J.. 2016. A longitudinal study of the temporal relation between problem gambling and mental and substance use disorders among young Adults. Can J Psychiatry. 61(2):102–111. doi: 10.1177/0706743715625950. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. American Psychiatric Association . Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. 2013. Arlington VA: American Psychiatric Association. doi: 10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596. - DOI
    1. André F, Håkansson A, Claesdotter-Knutsson E.. 2021. Gaming, substance use and distress within a cohort of online gamblers. J Public Health Res. 11(1):27–33. doi: 10.4081/jphr.2021.2434. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Barnes GM, Welte JW, Tidwell M, Hoffman JH.. 2015. Gambling and substance use: co-occurrence among adults in a recent general population study in the United States. Int Gambl Stud. 15(1):55–71. doi: 10.1080/14459795.2014.990396. - DOI - PMC - PubMed