Emotion regulation strategies and dissociation in Gambling Disorder

ABSTRACT

Dysfunctions in emotion regulation appear to be a central feature of Gambling Disorder (GD). Theoretical literature asserted that dissociation is a core process of Gambling Disorder used to defensively regulate emotional arousal induced by traumatic experiences memories. However, few is known on the relationship between emotion regulation capacities and dissociation among individuals with GD. We administered to a sample of individual with GD (n = 80) and a sample of community participants (n = 70) the Problem Gambling Index Scale (PGSI), the Dissociative Experience Scale 2nd version (DES-II) and the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ). Individuals with GD scored higher, compared to community participants, on the Suppression subscale of the ERQ and on both the Amnesia and Absorption subscales of the DES-II. Also, they showed lower levels of Cognitive Reappraisal compared to the comparison group. Correlations analyses indicated that only two subscales of the DES-II correlated positively with the scores obtained on the PGSI. The inverse pattern of results was found for Cognitive Reappraisal dimension. Finally, we found that Dissociation predicted significantly GD severity along with Emotion regulation strategies. Theoretical assumptions on the role of both dissociation and emotion regulation in GD are supported and argued for treating these aspects in GD.

KEYWORDS:

• Dissociation
• Gambling Disorder
• cognitive reappraisal
• suppression

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No competing interests were declared by the authors in relation to this manuscript.

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No preregistration statement was declared by the authors in relation to this manuscript.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author [PV] upon reasonable request.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

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Notes on contributors

Guyonne Rogier

Guyonne Rogier, PhD, is a Post-doc fellow at Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology at Sapienza University of Rome (Italy). Her research focuses on behavioral addictions. More specifically, he is interested in the role of emotion regulation in gambling disorder.

Andrea Capone

Andrea Capone, is a psychologist. His research interests concern psychopathology, in particular behavioral addictions.

Patrizia Velotti

Patrizia Velotti, PsyD, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology at Sapienza University of Rome (Italy). Her research focuses on the role of emotion regulation both as a transdiagnostic marker of psychopathology and as key facet of interpersonal relationships. Her most recent work has addressed the relevance of emotion regulation for gambling disorder. She has developed a strong expertise in the study of clinical implications of emotion dysregulation.