Treatment of Pathological Gambling

Today's podcast is the second in our four-part series on pathological gambling. I talk with Jody Bechtold, LCSW, NCGC-II, PC about treatment basics for clinicians who work with pathological gamblers. We'll start with a quick overview of crisis intervention and then move into some of the assumptions and techniques of the treatments with the most empirical support in the treatment of pathological gamblers - behavior and cognitive therapy. We end with a brief overview of some challenges that can arise during the treatment of pathological gambling.


This interview targets practicing clinicians or students in clinical courses. If you are not familiar with the approaches discussed in this podcast, you can find more general overviews of crisis intervention, behavior therapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy on the Social Work Podcast website. Disclaimer - this podcast is intended to be a general overview of treatment approaches, rather than a clinical training. If you are currently working with, or intend to work with people with gambling addiction, proper education and training is essential. In the fourth part of this series, Jody and I talk about some of the requirements for obtaining the NCGC-1 - the national certified gambling counselor certification. 

Download MP3 [27:00]

This series on pathological gambling includes the following podcasts:

1. What is Pathological Gambling? [11:43]
2. Treatment of Pathological Gambling [27:00]
3. Thinking Like a Pathological Gambler: Illusions of Control / Chance vs. Skill [8:54]
4. How to Become a Nationally Certified Gambling Addictions Counselor [27:53]

Update 

• July, 2007: Watch Jody on an investigative report about pathological gambling in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on local news station WPXI.
• June, 2012: Journal of Social Work Education publishes Jody's article on graduate education and gambling: 
• Engel, R.J., Bechtold, J., Kim, Y., & Mulvaney, E. (2012) Beating the odds: Preparing graduates to address gambling-related problems. Journal of Social Work Education, 48, 321-335. doi: 10.5175/JSWE.2012.201000128.

References

• Ciarrocchi, J. (2002). Counseling problem gamblers: A self-regulation manual for Individual and family therapy. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
• Ladouceur, R. & Lachance, S. (2006). Overcoming pathological gambling: Therapist guide. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Ladouceur, R., Sylvain, C., Boutin, C & Doucet, C. (2002). Understanding and Treating the Pathological Gambler. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
• McCown, W. G., & Howatt, W. A. (2007). Treating gambling problems. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

APA (6th edition) reference for this podcast:

Singer, J. B. (Host). (2007, May 28). Treatment of pathological gambling [Episode 18]. Social Work Podcast. Podcast retrieved Month Day, Year, from http://socialworkpodcast.com/2007/05/treatment-of-pathological-gambling.html