Getting professional gambling treatment can:
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Teach you how to master urges to gamble
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Help you handle temptation and deal with relapse
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Help you make a plan to deal with debt and financial problems and if necessary, get you in contact with people that can help you get back on track financially
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Put you in contact with help and support groups in your area
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Help you deal with stress, anxiety and depression
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Help you repair damaged family relationships
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Help you to find more constructive and still enjoyable ways to pass your leisure time
Two commonly used techniques in gambling addiction treatment include motivational interviewing and cognitive behavioral therapy.
Motivational Interviewing (MI)
MI is a technique that your therapist might use to help you stay focused on why you want to make changes in your life – to help you stay motivated to change. With MI, your therapist guides you (but does not dictate or direct your thoughts or observations) in looking honestly and objectively at your life and reasons for wanting change - and at your proven abilities to change when you decide you want to.
Most of us are better at making changes, when we’re motivated to do so, than we give ourselves credit for. MI helps us realize that we can and want to change!
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
A type of counseling known as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is considered one of the most effective therapies for the treatment of problem gambling. Some of the advantages of CBT include:
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It gives a person real-world tools to help control urges
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It can be learned, practiced and put into action relatively quickly
CBT helps people control their behaviors (gambling) by learning to control their thought processes, specifically, by correcting ‘wrong’ thinking that leads to poor behaviors. A CBT therapist might help you to correct misguided notions you may have about your skills as a gambler, about control, odds and or superstitions.
Support Groups – Abstinence based 12 step support groups, like Gamblers Anonymous are available in most urban areas. These groups meet to offer support and fellowship to a community of gamblers in recovery. Participation is free.
page last update Aug 17, 2010
