Pathological gambling

Injury	Disease	Nutrition	Poison

Symptoms	Surgery	Test	Special Topic

Overview

Symptoms

Treatment

Prevention

Pathological gambling

Alternative Names:

text continues below

Gambling - compulsive; Compulsive gambling; Addictive gambling

Symptoms:

People with pathological gambling often feel ashamed and try to avoid letting others know of their problem. The American Psychiatric Association defines pathological gambling as consisting of five or more of the following symptoms:

Preoccupation with gambling (spending much of the time thinking about gambling, such as past experiences, or ways to get more money to gamble with)
Needing to gamble larger amounts of money in order to feel excitement
Repeated unsuccessful attempts to cut back or quit gambling
Restlessness or irritability when trying to cut back or quit gambling
Gambling to escapeproblems or feelings of sadness or anxiety
Chasing losses (gambling larger amounts of money to try to make back previous losses)
Lying about the amount of time or money spent gambling
Committing crimes to get money to gamble
Loss of job, significant relationship, or educational or career opportunity due to gambling
Need to borrow money for survival due to gambling losses

Signs and tests:

A psychiatric evaluation and history can be used to diagnose pathological gambling. Screening tools such as the Gamblers Anonymous 20 Questions may also be used to assist in diagnosis.