Descriptive Study of a French Sample of “at Risk” and Pathological Gamblers Followed in a French Structure Specialised in Addictive Disorders.

International surveys about pathological gambling estimate that there are about 1 to 3 per cent of gamblers who develop a pathological behavior about gamble.In France, pathological gambling is not a priority of public health, in contrast with other addictive disorders, like alcoholism or nicotine addiction. The aim of our study is to describe accurately for the first time in France, a sample of “at risk” and pathological French gamblers. We want to collect socio-demographical and clinical data from this subjects (story of the addictive behaviour, co morbidities, and more specifically, detailed study of pathological gamblers’ personality), in order to compare our data with those of international literature.Secondarily, we want to test the feasibility of this kind of detailed evaluations for another study planned for 2007-2008 and which purpose will be to compare pathological gamblers’ personality characteristics according to the kind of game that they mainly practice.The participation at the study will be proposed to every patient consulting in the “service d’addictologie du CHU de Nantes”. The study consists in a single evaluation (about 8 hours) with standardized tools used all other the world.