Personality Disorders and Pathological Gambling: Comorbidity and Treatment Dropout Predictors

This study describes the personality disorders (PDs) among French-speaking Canadian gamblers seeking cognitive and behavioural treatment (CBT) in an external setting. One hundred pathological gamblers were assessed with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis II (SCID-II) in four different treatment centres for problem gambling. Sixty-four per cent had at least one comorbid PD according to the semi-structured interview based on the DSM-IV. The most common PDs were represented in clusters B and C. The presence of a comorbid cluster B was a significant predictor of treatment dropout. This characteristic seems to reduce the chances of recovery for some pathological gamblers. The implications for clinical practice and research are discussed.