Cognitive Distortions in Gamblers and Non-gamblers of a Representative Spanish Sample.

the presence of distortions was relevant to distinguish gamblers according to their level of gambling engagement and problems. There is a constant and significant tendency to have more cognitive distortions as gambling problems increase. But not all distortions have the same ability to distinguish between the different groups of gamblers. The results seem to group gamblers into three groups according to the presence of cognitive distortions, from less to more: (1) non-gamblers, (2) low-risk and at-risk gamblers, and (3) problem and pathological gamblers. The relevance of this research and its practical implications for both treatment and prevention work is discussed.