Gambling Addiction Treatment
A person with a gambling addiction can be addicted to any kind of gambling,
including lottery tickets, casino games, online poker or sports betting. In addition to
being financially devastating, this type of behavior can have social and family
consequences as well. Gambling addiction treatment can help a person regain
control of their finances and learn to manage impulses claim free credit singapore . In general, the approach to
treating a gambling addiction is similar to that used for other addictions. Behavioural
talking therapies such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) are often used. Self-
help CBT models such as SMART Recovery are also useful for people struggling with
problem gambling.
The first step in gambling addiction treatment is recognizing that there is a problem.
This may come after a big loss or after a period of time when the person is unable to
control their gambling behaviour. Once this has happened, they should contact a
professional for an evaluation.
Some people find that they need the structure of an inpatient program at a facility,
especially if their addiction to gambling interferes with work or family life. These
programs can last anywhere from 30 days to an entire year and involve staying at
the facility, attending group meetings and one-on-one sessions. These types of
programs are typically the most effective at reducing problematic gambling
behaviour.
Another form of treatment is a multimodal strategy that includes some combination
of psychotherapy, education and pharmacological interventions. These treatments
can have a high success rate for those who are seeking help for pathological
gambling, although there is limited evidence that they are effective with other
populations. These programs use a variety of techniques such as motivational
enhancement strategies to lower resistance to change, education about gambling
and addiction, and relapse prevention. Studies of relapse prevention have
demonstrated that techniques such as imaginal desensitization can reduce key
gambling-related urges effectively.
Several psychoanalytic and psychodynamic approaches to treating gambling
addiction have not been proven effective by evaluation research. These approaches
believe that a person’s problem behaviors are a defence against some kind of
underlying emotional trauma. These treatments aim to uncover the source of the
trauma and treat it. This approach is controversial, and some people do not find it
helpful.
Behavioral addiction treatment methods that have been tested in controlled studies
of pathological gambling include a variety of medications, group and individual
therapy, relapse prevention and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). Most of the
trials on relapse prevention have included imaginal desensitization. Other trials have
used a combination of relapse prevention with other therapies such as amotivational
interviewing and pharmacotherapies. The results from these trials have been mixed,
but relapse rates appear to be quite high. Only about 8 percent of gamblers
surveyed at two and four years after treatment reported abstinence from gambling.
This is a dismal outcome, but it is important to remember that most of these
gamblers were in treatment for only a few months and the majority of them had
relapsed many times prior to treatment.