# Compulsive Gambling (Gambling Disorder)

- Category: chronic
- Review status: reviewed (every claim checked against a document named on this page)
- Sources: ICPC-3 (WONCA International Classification of Primary Care, 3rd edition) class PD99.00 - condition scope only, no dose · Impulse Control Disorders - StatPearls - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK562279/ · No dose - referral pathway, no medicine given in primary care
- Verified date: 2026-08

## Verified against

- No dose - referral pathway, no medicine given in primary care

## Treatment metadata

- No drug therapy in primary care (Referral & Advice)

## Complete treatment card

```text
COMPULSIVE GAMBLING (GAMBLING DISORDER)
Sources: ICPC-3 (WONCA International Classification of Primary Care, 3rd edition) class PD99.00 -
         condition scope only, no dose · Impulse Control Disorders - StatPearls -
         https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK562279/ · No dose - referral pathway, no medicine
         given in primary care
Review status: REVIEWED against the source listed above  (2026-08)

1. NO DRUG THERAPY IN PRIMARY CARE (REFERRAL & ADVICE)    [1st line]
   Adult    A behavioural addiction with persistent, recurrent gambling despite harm; there is no
            specific drug routinely used in primary care, so management is referral to psychiatry or
            addiction services for structured behavioural therapy, alongside screening for
            coexisting depression or substance use. - Refer, with advice
   Peds     Children follow the same pathway: recognise and refer. No primary-care medicine is
            implied.
   Source   No dose - referral pathway, no medicine given in primary care
   Why      A behavioural addiction with persistent, recurrent gambling despite harm; there is no
            specific drug routinely used in primary care, so management is referral to psychiatry or
            addiction services for structured behavioural therapy, alongside screening for
            coexisting depression or substance use.
   Caution  No medicine is prescribed for this in primary care - this entry is for recognition and
            referral. Anything given is decided by the service it is referred to.
            RED FLAG - Suicidal ideation related to financial or personal loss from gambling, or
            coexisting substance misuse or severe depression: assess urgently and refer.

Prices are indicative (dataset snapshot 2026-06); verify with the pharmacy.
```

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