Are there more personality disorders in treatment-seeking pathological gamblers than in other kind of patients? A comparative study between the IPDE and the MCMI1

In this ex post facto study, the most frequent Personality Disorders (PDs) related to pathological gambling are described. A sample of 50 consecutively recruited treatment-seeking pathological gamblers was compared to 50 consecutively recruited psychiatric outpatients with non-addictive disorders and to 50 normative subjects from the general population with the same demographic features (age, sex, and socioeconomic level) to find out the prevalence of PDs. All participants were assessed with the International Personality Disorders Examination (IPDE), the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI-II), and with the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS). According to the results, 32% of pathological gamblers and 16% of the general clinical sample (versus 8% of the normative sample) showed at least one personality disorder. The most prevalent ones were the borderline personality disorder (16%), followed by the antisocial, narcissistic, and non specified personality disorders (8% each). The coincidence about the number and the kind of PDs diagnosed by both instruments was not strong. Finally, implications of this study for clinical practice and future research in this field are commented upon. 1 The research reported in this paper was supported by a grant (BSO 2003 05895) from the Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología (España). 2 Correspondence: Departamento de Personalidad, Evaluación y Tratamientos Psicológicos. Facultad de Psicología. Universidad del País Vasco. Avda. de Tolosa, 70. 20018 San Sebastián (España). E-Mail: [email protected] © International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology ISSN 1697-260