Post-traumatic stress and gambling related cognitions: Analyses in inpatient and online samples

Individuals with gambling disorder (GD) report much higher rates of post-traumatic stress symptoms and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSS/D) than the general population, and individuals with both PTSS/D and GD often report much greater distress and impairment in daily life in comparison to individuals with GD alone (Grubbs, Chapman, Milner, Gutierrez, & Bradley, 2018). Despite these associations, little is known about the specific ways in which PTSS/D and GD might influence each other. To address this gap in research, the present work sought to examine how PTSD might be related to the expression and experience of gambling related cognitions. Specifically, it was hypothesized that individuals with PTSD or symptoms of PTSD (i.e., subclinical levels of post-traumatic stress) would demonstrate greater cognitive distortions and erroneous beliefs about gambling. To test these hypotheses, we analyzed data from two samples, an inpatient sample of U.S. Armed Forces veterans seeking treatment for gambling disorder (n = 332) and an online sample of largely recreational gambling U.S. adults (n = 589). Results consistently revealed that, in both samples, individuals with PTSD or symptoms of PTSD were likely to report greater gambling related cognitions. These findings persisted, even when gambling symptom severity and trait neuroticism were held constant. Collectively, these results suggest that PTSD is uniquely associated with greater cognitive distortions and erroneous beliefs about gambling behaviors. These findings bear distinct implications for current understandings of how PTSS/D and GD are related, as well as for treatment of individuals with dealing with this comorbidity.