Contenu du sommaire : Les jeux pathologiques

The role of emotions in gambling. Typical and atypical development of the capacities of decision
Over the past 40 years, gambling has inspired many experimental paradigms in cognitive psychology laboratories, developmental psychology, but also developmental neuroscience. However, the first work in this field has shown that adults in some contexts, despite undeniable logical-mathematical abilities, produced almost systematically irrational responses. Thus, the objective of this article is to present some of the most original research-inspired games, which have provided a better understanding of the evolving capacities of decision-making and resistance to context's snares, but also to discover the amazing role of emotions in typical and atypical cognitive development, with the example of autism.

Gambling in the adult subject, when passion becomes deadly
Gambling is a very ancient practice whose popularity continues to grow. How can we explain the craze for this activity? What is its function in the psychic economy of the subject? The question of the function of gambling refers in part to the issue of motivation of the subject to indulge in this activity (both conscious and unconscious motivation of the player). However, the motivation will be different according to the type of player (either the social gambler, cheat, professional or pathological gambler). In addition, the motivation will also be different depending on the pathological gambler and the type of game he plays. Indeed, several recent studies (mostly conducted on pathological gamblers) showed that the profile of players varied by the type of game they engaged in and in terms of socio-demographic data, personality traits and psychopathological dimensions. The study of the function of the game or the motivation of the player offers interesting perspectives in terms of research and practical application. Indeed, it allows one hand to improve the typology of players and so to better adapt the procedure for taking charge of these matters. Moreover, understanding the motivation and the link with the involvement in the game can also help improve prevention messages for gambling and money.

Poker: normal and pathological practices
Poker is nowadays one of the most popular gambling types, especially online. One of its main special features is the real component of skill involved in the game outcomes. This entanglement between chance and strategy makes the subject's relation to chance more complex and contributes to making poker a game apart from other types of gambling. In this article, we focus on the special features of poker and on its practice, pathological or not. The issue of pathological gambling among poker players and its specificities (prevalence, risk factors and characteristics) is then addressed. Finally, we question the player's relation to chance and the involvement of cognitive distortions, or gambling-related irrational beliefs, in pathological gambling.

Psychopathology of dangerous games in young people: when pleasure is conditioned by violence and risk
The phenomenon of dangerous and violent games has existed for several years among children and adolescents. In this article we will focus on three types of games: challenge games, games of aggression and choking games. We will analyse the psychological and psychopathological aspects of the motivations for these young players, then we will lead a discussion on prevention.

Becoming a problematic gambler: When the game gets serious. Identifying and understanding vulnerabilities and protective factors for problem gambling in sales points. This paper reports the results of the research action conducted by the centre “Discrimination, violence and health” of the Ligue Française pour la Santé Mentale (LFSM), with the support of the FDJ “Jeu Responsable” programme, conscious of better qualifying vulnerable situations encountered in some specific sales networks: outlet bars. To achieve this objective, 15 months of ethnographic inquiry was conducted in immersion from November 2013 to January 2014, in order to identify the protective factors regarding the addictive risk related to gambling, which could be mobilized among the male-dominated community players. Fourteen outlet bars were selected according to various criteria, including a typology of retailers according to a 2008 study. Observations and interviews conducted with 66 gamblers during the 15-month investigation revealed four attitudes (small pleasure, routine, avoidance, control), four behaviours and steps (enter, start, continue, stop and restart), four motivations and focal points (location and length, time, imagination, identity), and five reports on gain and loss (pleasure/surprise, ritual/image, gain, game, problem), to illustrate a problem gambler path. The vulnerability factors identified and protective factors to strengthen or develop (including through a marauding project involving young people in civic service) are articulated around four recommendation trails towards risk reduction in outlet bars (access to information, support, alternative/substitution means, self-support).

The process of indebtedness in pathological gambling. Results of an exploratory research
This article addresses the complex relationship between gambling disorder and debt. Many studies have examined the factors facilitating the emergence of excessive practice among individuals: they are structural in nature (types of games), situational (proximity of gambling venues, for example) or individual (age, gender, immigration status, social status, etc.). However, few of them have highlighted the factors related to the indebtedness thereunder issued, as if it was experienced more or less evenly among individuals. We know, moreover, that even if the majority of players suffer from financial difficulties, this is not the case for all of them, or at least not at the same time in their life, and not in the same way. Far from composing a homogeneous social group portrait, it is possible to show how certain factors foster the development of indebtedness among players. By combining data from specialized institutions (processing centres, deleveraging bodies) and life stories collected from players and their families, we have a typology of players according to their socio-economic status and their resources mobilized (social and family circle).

From chess to LoL, or the contemporary history of video gamers
In this article, the authors interlace the history of chess with the modern practice of the video game League of Legends (LoL). Several clinical vignettes are used to demonstrate the strategies developed through the game by four young men to face their family or school problems.

« Tanguys » of video games
The article discusses the situation of excessive online gamers, older than 25 years of age. The main psychopathological elements identified for younger problem gamers are met again: the difficulty of developing the separation from parents, flight from reality, depressed mood. We present here a clinical vignette and discuss the opportunities for care and support.

Preventing psychoactive substance consumption during adolescence: proposition and experimentation of the “self-reflection” method and the AGEVEN sheet. The influence of friends explains tobacco, cannabis and alcohol consumption in teenagers. Do adolescents recognize this influence? And does recognizing it have an effect on their relation with substances? This article tests an original method of prevention. This tool can be used to stimulate consciousness about peer social influence on cigarette, cannabis and alcohol consumption. This method is based on the premise that this awareness initiates the stopping and reducing processes. To help them in this exercise, we suggest completing a biographical sheet: the AGEVEN sheet. By scheduling different events and changes, the AGEVEN sheet allows them to critically analyse the sequence of events and their own situation objectively. We have tested the effectiveness of this prevention tool with 331 high school students. This experiment was performed among consumers and non-consumers of psychoactive substances. The experimentation results confirm the impact of the AGEVEN sheet on teenagers' awareness of their peer social influence. This sheet reinforces projects aimed at reducing or stopping consumption.

Chemical pleasures: Sex and drug use among HIV-positive gay men
Based on interviews with HIV-positive gay men recently diagnosed with acute hepatitis C, the HEPAIG-quali study demonstrates that sexual practices and drug use are closely intertwined with each other, in order to experience an ultimate aim of sexual pleasure, including unprotected sex. For these men, the use of various psychoactive and stimulant substances (illicit or not) contributes to their bodily endurance and performance, as well as to their overall well-being. These “chemical pleasures”, which they are not ready to give up, take place in the post-AIDS context of medicine and treatments, which promote an ideal subject inspired by self-responsibility and personal discipline, and within a moral pattern stigmatizing drug abuse and addiction. As a consequence, health interventions should be adjusted to their identity and needs as HIV-positive gay men, and promote sexual risk reduction including drug use.