Gambling disorder (GD) is a behavioural addiction associated with significant psychological, social, and financial harms. Research has identified various psychological factors that contribute to the development and maintenance of GD, including difficulties with emotion regulation. This study was a systematic review of the existing studies on the relationship between emotion regulation and GD. The review focused on studies using the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) or Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ) to measure emotion regulation.
A total of nine studies were included in the review. Across studies, people experiencing GD showed lower cognitive reappraisal, greater expressive suppression, and increased use of ineffective strategies such as self-blame. Neuroimaging evidence from one study revealed altered activation patterns of the frontal regions in people experiencing GD during cognitive reappraisal. These findings provide insight into the role of emotion regulation in GD.
