Mindfulness in Patients With Gambling Disorders

Abstract

This study explored facets of mindfulness between patients diagnosed with a gambling disorder (n = 26) and a community sample of non-gambling-disordered individuals (n = 33). Multivariate statistics comparing group differences showed the gambling-disordered patients exhibited significantly lower levels of mindfulness, emotional regulation, stress coping, and impulse control compared to the non-gambling-disordered group. Overall, gambling severity was negatively associated with higher levels of mindfulness and positively linked to indices of emotional dysregulation, stress proneness, and impulsivity. Correlations between mindfulness and emotional dysregulation and impulsivity were much stronger than those between mindfulness and the severity of disordered gambling behaviors as measured by the National Opinion Research Center DSM Screen for Gambling Problems (NODS). These findings are discussed in the context of possible implications for future directions in exploring mindfulness-based interventions as a plausible intervention among those with gambling disorders.

KEYWORDS:

• emotional regulation
• gambling
• impulse control
• intervention
• mindfulness
• stress coping