A recent study appearing in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry has identified four separate types of compulsive gamblers. Working with 1,171 individuals at the Pathological Gambling Unit at Bellvitge-IDIBELL Hospital in Barcelona, researchers concluded that two of the four types identified include pathological gamblers who exhibit problems in controlling their responses, but only one type “shows signs of a significant concurrent psychopathology.”
The four types of compulsive gamblers include:
Type I — “disorganized and emotionally unstable”: This is characterised by “schizotypal” personality traits, high degrees of impulsiveness, alcohol and substance abuse, psychopathological alterations and early onset age.
Type II — “a schizoid type”: This type exhibits high levels of harm avoidance, social distancing, and alcohol abuse.
Type III — “reward-sensitive”: This type is characterized by high levels of sensation seeking and impulsiveness, but no psychopathological alterations.
Type IV — “high functioning”: This is a globally-adapted personality type, without any disorders relating to substance abuse, and no associated psychopathological alterations.
According to Susana Jiménez Murcia, co-author of the study and coordinator of the Pathological Gambling Unit: “We need to use different treatments for each sub-group of pathological gamblers in order to respond to their specific therapeutic difficulties and needs.” Historically, pathological gambling has been connected to the collapse in one’s ability to resist the urge to gamble. The resulting damage and harm to the individual, his or her family and any work environment is well-documented. In most mental illness manuals, pathological gambling is classified as a “disruption in the ability to control impulses.”
“However, this classification has generated a certain degree of polemic among the scientific community, due to the high degree of heterogeneity that exists in this disorder,” the researcher explains. As a result, this study hopes to create a new category in the DSM-5 (Fifth Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) and other related manuals.
Sources: Canadian Journal of Psychiatry; Science Daily; Medical News Today
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