The purpose of this review was to examine the existing evidence on the physiological activity and reactivity of people with gambling disorder (GD) and problem gambling (PG) in response to stress. The researchers included 18 studies in the review. This review highlights the need for additional research on stress physiology among people who gamble. The authors caution that because of the limitations of the studies, such as small samples with mostly male participants, it is difficult to draw firm conclusions about their findings. However, the authors highlight that risky decision making and gambling may alter the stress response, and physiological response to acute stress is blunted among people with PG and GD.
