Dysregulation of positive emotions and gambling disorder: a empirical investigation

Background and aims.– Several theoretical models underlined that the development or the maintenance of Gambling Disorder (GD) is undermined by difficulties in the regulation of negative emotions. Despite the fact that the role of positive emotions played in psychopathology has been widely neglected by the scientific community, their regulation appears a central feature of addictions as such as GD (Rogier & Velotti, 2018). However, studies investigating this topic are limited. Aim.– To investigate the role played by dysregulation of positive emotions in GD in a clinical sample of DGs. Methods.– We administered to a sample of Disordered Gamblers (DGs) and a sample of community participants the South Oaks Gam- bling Screen (SOGS, Lesieur & Blume, 1987) and the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale Positive (DERS-P,Weiss et al., 2015). Results.– Positive and significant correlations between the SOGS and the DERS-P were observed. Moreover, DGs scored higher on some of the subscales of the DERS-P compared to community participants. Conclusions.– Dysregulation of positive emotions appears to be a central feature of GD. As such, future research should further investigate this issue. Also, clinical interventions have to assess and target the capacity of DGs to manage high levels of positive emotions. Finally, theoretical models should integrate the topic of dysregulation of positive emotions in the explanation of the development and maintenance of GD.