Strong Connection Between Depression and Gambling Problems

The study published in the Springer’s Journal of Gambling Studies, conducted by the Frédéric Dussault, has shown that there is a strong connection between depression and chronic gambling. According to the research if young man is a chronic gambler there is a big chance that he also suffers from depression.

Chronic gambling is often connected with numerous mental health disorders as it causes intense distress and disruption in most areas of life. Individual’s compulsive need to gamble leads to numerous problems from insomnia to other physical problems. It is also connected to depression, anxiety and panic.

For the purposes of the study, Frédéric and his colleagues used data from an ongoing long-term study that began back in 1984. The researchers began following the group of 1,162 boys of kindergarten age living in the poorer areas of Montreal.

The study has collected information about socio-family setting that boys grew up in and how impulsive they were including the information about quality of their relationships with family and friends.

Researches couldn’t follow all boys throughout their life so the current study includes data of 888 participants, who were surveyed again at the age of 17, 23 and 28 and asked about possible gambling and depression problems.

The result of the study brought good news as only three percent of participants have showed signs of chronic gambling with the problem increasing as they progressed from the age of 17 to 28. However the majority of men who have experienced chronic gambling problems have also suffered from depression. According to the study 73% of those who showed signs of chronic gambling had issues with depression.

Results of the research showed that gambling problems didn’t necessarily reduce when participants reached their late 20s.

Frédéric suggests that when depression and gambling problems occur together they should be also treated together. The study also suggests that other problems related to quality of relationship with friends and especially family can easily lead to gambling problems and depression.

Researchers found out that more impulsive boys are more likely to become chronic gamblers and factors like divorce or poverty were often a prelude to gambling problems.

Dussault advised programs dealing with these issues to detect try and detect problems in the early stages and prevent them by dealing with issues specific to the individuals. This means that there is a big difference between being impulsive (research showed that more impulsive boys are more likely to become chronic gamblers) and repeatedly making wrong friends.

Photo: newhealthguide.org