Personality and Clinical Dimensions of Pathological Gamblers. A Pilot Study

Abstract

Gambling disorder is characterized by a persistent

A Comprehensive Model for Gambling Behaviors: Assessment of the Factors that can Contribute to the Vulnerability and Maintenance of Gambling Disorder

“…Several correspondences regarding neurobiological evidence, comorbidity, symptomatic behaviour, susceptibility to treatment and aspects of the course, motivated the DSM-5 task force to move GD in the section of addiction disorders (Hasin et al, 2013), confirming that the addictive propensity may develop both from substances and from behaviours (Caretti et al, 2018;Perales et al, 2020). In this regard, several studies showed that gambling behaviours may represent an external regulator of internal emotional states (Di Trani et al, 2017;Gori et al, 2016;Pace et al, 2015;Rogier & Velotti, 2018) and it correlated significantly with traumatic experiences (Hodgins et al, 2010;Lane et al, 2016), insecure attachment (Sherrer et al, 2007) and psychopathological traits, such as alexithymia (Bibby, 2016;Gori et al, 2016;Iraci-Sareri & Gori, 2012;Maniaci et al, 2015) and dissociation (Craparo et al, 2015;Gori et al, 2016;Griffiths et al, 2006;Schluter & Hodgins, 2019;Williams et al, 2012). On the other hand, other researchers suggested the presence of high levels of impulsiveness, compulsiveness and obsessiveness in pathological gamblers (El-Guebaly et al, 2012;Chowdhury et al, 2017;Okechukwu, 2019;Steel & Blaszczynski, 2002), supporting the views which consider craving as a construct of central importance in the maintenance and exacerbation of gambling disorder (Blaszczynski & Nower, 2002;Brevers & Noël, 2013;Sharpe, 2002), but also in the difficulty of treatment and the tendency to relapse (Oei & Gordon, 2008;Smith et al, 2010).…”

Gambling disorder and dissociative features: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

“…The total number of participants included in our study is 3,210 (varying from a minimum of 17 to a maximum of 996), with a prevalence of male subjects (1,924—gender was the missing data from Craparo et al, 2015; Kofoed et al, 19978). The samples’ natures differed across studies.…”

“…Despite the heterogeneity of the measures used, the link between gambling behavior and dissociation was supported by almost all studies (Cartmill et al, 2015; Craparo et al, 2015; Dixon et al, 2019; Kofoed et al, 1997; Kuley & Jacobs, 1988; Murch & Clark, 2019; Murch et al, 2017). DGs seemed more likely to experience several dissociative-like states, as compared to community samples (Diskin & Hodgins, 1999; McCormick et al, 2012).…”

“…Given that the association between these variables is highlighted by most studies, it was difficult to establish whether this link was direct or mediated by other factors. Whereas, several authors described one of two variables as simply predicted by the other one (Cartmill et al, 2015; Craparo et al, 2015; Kofoed et al, 1997; Kuley & Jacobs, 1988; Murch et al, 2017; Tricker et al, 2016), the remaining studies used regression analysis and dissociation was considered a mediation variable (Farrelly et al, 2007; Gee et al, 2005; Imperatori et al, 2017; Wood et al, 2004). Some authors proposed that dissociative experiences in gambling (e.g., narrowed attention and absorption experiences) are related to the high level of arousal elicited by gambling behavior (Diskin & Hodgins, 1999).…”

“…High levels of dissociation seem to exacerbate problem gambling, even across gambling modalities (Hopley & Nicki, 2010), resulting in it becoming an ingrained maladaptive coping mechanism (Cartmill et al, 2015). The impulsive feature of gambling maybe triggered by dissociative defenses related to a history of traumatic development (Craparo et al, 2015; Odlaug et al, 2012). On the other hand, some authors propose the opposite hypothesis, according to which these dissociative experiences may arise due to the “high sympathetic arousal” that gambling behavior elicits (Kuley & Jacobs, 1988).…”