Gambling addiction is a mental-health problem that is understood to be one of many kinds of impulse-control problems and having many similarities to obsessive compulsive disorder. However, it is now understood to be more similar to other addictive disorders.
Risk factors for pathological gambling include schizophrenia, mood problems, antisocial personality disorder, alcohol, or cocaine addiction.
Although men tend to develop a gambling addiction at a higher rate and at younger ages than women, women now make up more than one-quarter of all compulsive gamblers, and women's symptoms tend to worsen faster once compulsive gambling develops. Read more >>