Association Among Depressive Symptoms, Physical Symptoms, Serotonin Levels, and Gambling Disorder: A Case-Control Study.

PURPOSE: The current study compares depressive symptoms, physical symptoms, and serotonin levels between individuals with gambling disorder (GD) and healthy controls (HC), investigates their relationship, and identifies factors that predict the development of GD.

METHOD: A case-control study with purposive convenience sampling was conducted using data from GD (n = 76) and HC (n = 56) groups.

RESULTS

Increased depressive symptoms were associated with greater physical symptoms (r = 0.70, p < 0.001) and problem gambling severity (r = 0.37, p = 0.001). Decreased serotonin levels suggest a potential depressive disorder; however, not all individuals had lower serotonin levels, indicating emotionally vulnerable subgroups. Increased serotonin levels correlated with restlessness, which was associated with problem gambling (r = 0.31, p = 0.006). Decreased problem gambling severity was linked to increased alcohol use (r = -0.29, p = 0.012).

CONCLUSION

Results indicate a correlation among depressive symptoms, physical symptoms, and serotonin imbalance in individuals with GD.