Gambling disorder and suicidality within the UK: an analysis investigating mental health and gambling severity as risk factors to suicidality

Abstract

Greater severities of gambling behaviour and poorer mental health have been identified in the literature as risk factors for suicidality within gambling disorder (GD) populations. This is the first known study within the UK to use empirical data, taken from a UK treatment clinic for GD (National Problem Gambling Clinic, UK) to explore the associations between current suicidality (thoughts and plans) and measures assessing gambling severity and mental health. Self-report data from 122 participants were collected during the intake process at the clinic through a variety of methods including the use of questionnaires and a standardized 90-minute interview with a psychologist. Reported suicidality was high (current suicidal thoughts [28.7%] and plans [6.6%]), yet only one measure of gambling severity (estimated total losses) was found to be inversely associated with suicidality. Indices of poorer mental health were found to have a greater association with suicidality than measures of gambling severity, and a logistic regression analysis identified depressive symptomology and a history of psychiatric disorder in the participants’ family as significant factors associated with suicidality. Overall, within GD populations, factors associated with poorer mental health rather than gambling severity are seemingly a greater risk factor in patients with suicidality.

Keywords:

• Gambling disorder
• suicidality
• suicidal ideation
• gambling severity
• mental health

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank staff and clinicians at the National Problem Gambling Clinic for their efforts to obtain the routine clinically collected data used with this study. Additional thanks go to Dr G. Orgs, Mr P. Steventon and Miss I. S. Hensels for their helpful remarks in the development of this article.