Post-traumatic stress symptoms in pathological gambling: Potential evidence of anti-reward processes
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Background: Excessive gambling is considered to be a part of the addiction spectrum. Stress-like emotional states are a key feature both of pathological gambling (PG) and of substance addiction. In substance addiction, stress symptomatology has been attributed in part to “anti-reward” allostatic neuroadaptations, while a potential involvement of anti-reward processes in the course of PG has not yet been investigated. Methods: To that end, individuals with PG (n = 22) and mentally healthy subjects (n = 13) were assessed for trauma exposure and post-traumatic stress symptomatology (PTSS) using the Life Events Checklist and the Civilian Mississippi Scale, respectively. Results: In comparison with healthy subjects, individuals with PG had significantly greater PTSS scores including greater physiological arousal sub-scores. The number of traumatic events and their recency were not significantly different between the groups. In the PG group, greater gambling severity was associated with more PTSS, but neither with traumatic events exposure nor with their recency. Conclusions: Our data replicate prior reports on the role of traumatic stress in the course of PG and extend those findings by suggesting that the link may be derived from the anti-reward-type neuroadaptation rather than from the traumatic stress exposure per se.
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The presence of an anxiety disorder has been associated with more severe symptomatology in both gambling and substance use.
“Further, the presence of an anxiety disorder has been associated with more severe symptomatology in both gambling and substance use (C. L. Green, Nahhas, Scoglio, & Elman, 2017; Ledgerwood & Petry, 2006; Najavits, Meyer, Johnson, & Korn, 2011; Possemato et al., 2015).”
From Cued for Risk: Evidence for an Incentive Sensitization Framework to Explain the Interplay between Stress and Anxiety, Substance Abuse, and Reward Uncertainty in Disordered Gambling Behavior (2019) · cites this paper as C. L. Green, Nahhas, Scoglio, & Elman, 2017
There is evidence for cross-sensitization between gambling and stress.
“and between gambling and stress (C. L. Green et al., 2017).”
From Cued for Risk: Evidence for an Incentive Sensitization Framework to Explain the Interplay between Stress and Anxiety, Substance Abuse, and Reward Uncertainty in Disordered Gambling Behavior (2019) · cites this paper as C. L. Green et al., 2017
Pathological gamblers displayed greater post-traumatic stress symptoms, specifically enhanced severity of associated physiological arousal.
“Their findings suggest that pathological gamblers displayed greater post-traumatic stress symptoms, specifically they demonstrated enhanced severity of associated physiological arousal.”
From Cued for Risk: Evidence for an Incentive Sensitization Framework to Explain the Interplay between Stress and Anxiety, Substance Abuse, and Reward Uncertainty in Disordered Gambling Behavior (2019) · cites this paper as C. L. Green et al., 2017
The degree of post-traumatic stress symptomatology correlated with greater gambling severity.
“The degree of post-traumatic stress symptomatology correlated with greater gambling severity, suggesting a strong relationship between experience of stressful events and gambling problems (C. L. Green et al., 2017)”
From Cued for Risk: Evidence for an Incentive Sensitization Framework to Explain the Interplay between Stress and Anxiety, Substance Abuse, and Reward Uncertainty in Disordered Gambling Behavior (2019) · cites this paper as C. L. Green et al., 2017
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Green, C. L., Nahhas, R. W., Scoglio, A. A., & Elman, I.
- Affiliations
- Wright State University (US)
- Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital (US)
- Corresponding author
- Green, Cheryl L.
- Venue
- Journal of Behavioral Addictions
- Publisher
- Akademiai Kiado Zrt.
- Published
- 2016-03
- Volume
- 6
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 98-101
- ISSN
- 2062-5871 (ISSN-L)
- 2063-5303
- PMC
- PMC5572998
- OpenAlex
- W2592716082
- Cited by
- 19
- References
- 34
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 4
- FWCI
- 2.67
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Behavioral Addictions (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Repository of the Academy's Library (Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences) (acceptedVersion)
- CORE Scholar (Wright State University) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (I01 CX001118)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Gambling Behavior and Treatments
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum Disorders
- Keywords
- gambling addiction, posttraumatic stress symptoms, neural adaptation, trauma exposure, physiological arousal, gambling severity, substance addiction
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Arousal, Educational Status, Female, Gambling, Humans, Interview, Psychological, Male, Middle Aged, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Reward, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic, Comorbidity, Self Report
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