The South Oaks Gambling Screen is a 20-item questionnaire based on DSM-III criteria for pathological gambling. It may be self-administered or administered by nonprofessional or professional interviewers. A total of 1,616 subjects were involved in its development: 867 patients with diagnoses of substance abuse and pathological gambling, 213 members of Gamblers Anonymous, 384 university students, and 152 hospital employees. Independent validation by family members and counselors was obtained for the calibration sample, and internal consistency and test-retest reliability were established. The instrument correlates well with the criteria of the revised version of DSM-III (DSM-III-R). It offers a convenient means to screen clinical populations of alcoholics and drug abusers, as well as general populations, for pathological gambling.

Sex differences in the clinical presentation of substance-dependent individuals with psychiatric comorbidity present specific treatment challenges and opportunities.

Seventy-two pathological gambling patients were followed-up after treatment in a combined alcohol, substance abuse and compulsive gambling treatment program. The Addiction Severity Index (modified for use with pathological gamblers) was used to evaluate the effectiveness of treatment. Patients reduced their intake of alcohol, other drugs and their gambling as well as improved in legal, family/social, and psychological functioning. There was a trend for improvement in medical condition and no net change in employment functioning. The study supports the idea that combined treatment is an effective way of dealing with patients whose gambling problems are discovered when they enter treatment for another addiction, as well as for patients whose initial complaints include pathological gambling, with or without additional problems.

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