Emotion regulation strategies and dissociation in Gambling Disorder

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.