Descriptive features of Turkish pathological gamblers

This study investigated the descriptive features of Turkish pathological ga mblers. Participants were 31 male pathological gamblers and 42 "regular gam blers" who acted as controls. The subjects were diagnosed on the basis of D SM-IV pathological gambling criteria and completed the Turkish Version of S outh Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS). The nonpathological group was quite compa rable with the pathological gambling group with respect to types and freque ncy of gambling and socio-demographic features. The data on the variables t hat defined and discriminated pathological gamblers fi om regular gamblers were collected through administration of a 68-item questionnaire, prepared by the authors. Compared to the non pathological gamblers, the pathological gamblers gambled more to recover their losses, experienced craving for gam bling more often, gambled more often to obtain relief from disturbing emoti ons, harboured more irrational and unrealistic cognitions to rationalize th eir gambling behavior and suffered more emotionally, financially and social ly as a result of their involvement in gambling. The results of the study s uggested that Turkish pathological gamblers are very much like their counte rparts in Western countries.