Clinical impressions and psychological testing suggest that pathological
gamblers demonstrate a high incidence of affective disorders. To assess the
frequency of such disorders, the Schedule for Affective Disorders and
Schizophrenia was administered to 50 patients admitted successively to the
gambling treatment program of a VA hospital. Seventy-six percent of the
subjects were diagnosed as having major depressive disorder and 38% as
having hypomanic disorder according to the Research Diagnostic Criteria.
The patients with major depressive disorder and one patient with
schizoaffective disorder, depressed type, were significantly more likely to
miss work often due to gambling. A large number of patients displayed
suicidal tendencies.
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