Gambling Treatment Program
Problem gambling is a persistent maladaptive behavior that can be a primary or co-occurring illness. Since pathological gambling is recognized as an impulse control disorder similar to alcoholism or cocaine addiction, treatment is likewise similar. Treatment involves recognizing that gambling addiction is a chronic and progressive illness. As one client shared, “I was always good at math, so I thought I had an edge. I didn’t know that all gamblers think this. I was seriously handicapping by age fourteen, but it wasn’t until I was in college that I really began pursuing my obsession. But then, gambling was a massive time sponge. I spent hours and hours every day handicapping on the net. I dropped out of school and got an office job with plenty of down time. Pretty soon I had a resentment against my employer if any work interfered with my handicapping. The first time I went to treatment, I felt so hopeless that I had suicidal thoughts for the first time in my life. So I left and started gambling again, telling myself that if I got out of debt I would feel better. It didn’t work. When I got to Morningside, I got the proper diagnosis and medication for the first time in my life.”
For clients suffering from both a gambling addiction and a co-occurring condition, research has shown that SSRIs can be effective in the treatment. Clients also get honest about their triggers and attempt to discover the unresolved emotional issues that led to their gambling addiction. The staff encourages clients to participate in their own recovery by looking beyond the symptoms and addressing the underlying causes. With this in mind, clients are offered a choice of outside group therapies that may or may not include 12-step groups. Newport Beach does, however, have a great 12-Step community, with clients free to choose to attend GA, NA or AA meetings.
Those with a gambling addiction often have ADD/ADHD issues, so Morningside provides a clinical program that deals with the psychological issues that feed problem behaviors. Morningside recognizes that each addiction has its own unique factors. These factors are different for individuals who spend hours at table games in a casino as opposed to a person calling in bets on college football. As a result, a different set of clinical interventions and programs might be used to resolve each addiction. For example, recent research has linked norepinephrine to certain behavior patterns because it is secreted during stress, arousal, or thrill. It is believed that some individuals have a deficiency is this neurotransmitter and gamble to cause the brain to produce more of this feel-good chemical. This type of research continues to inform medication choices for the treatment team at Morningside.
One client shared: “For me it was the whole process, busting my ass at work to get my roll, the anticipation on the drive out to the casino, the jingle and lights inside. Because I wasn’t drinking, I patted myself on the back, like I wasn’t gambling my family’s mortgage money.” Gambling addiction is a chronic disorder. After Phase I, clients are strongly encouraged to continue treatment because the research overwhelmingly states that clients with pathological gambling issues require treatment over the longer term to avoid relapse.
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