Kathleen Zamperini – Gambling Disorder: A Clinician’s Guide to Screening, Assessment, & Treatment Options

Outline

Assessment and Screening

• Top 5 red flags when gambling becomes problematic
• DSM-5 criteria for Gambling Disorder
• Action gambler vs. Escape gambler
• Risk factors: Genetics, co-occurring disorders, and predisposing events
• Assessments and screenings
  • Lie-Bet –2 simple questions you can add to your current assessment
  • Gambler’s Anonymous twenty questions
  • South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS)
  • G-BIRT – how to ask screening questions for the best results
• The stages of problem gambling
  • Winning/social, losing, desperation, hopelessness
• Factors affecting progression
  • Life stressors and internal factors
  • Depression, general health, nutrition, and more
    • Case study – 65-year-old female – gambling triggers/sugar

Treatment and Intervention Strategies

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
• Self-esteem and self-care strategies, including nutrition
• Grief counseling
• Case study – 43 – year old male – unresolved grief
• Self-exclusion
• Financial problems are the symptom not the cause
  • What is a ‘bail out” and how does it affect gambling problems?
• Stages of recovery
  • Critical stage
  • Rebuilding stage
  • Growth stage

Clinical and Ethical Considerations

• Education and awareness for clients
• When to refer to a Gambling Counselor
• The limitations of research studies
• Additional resources
  • Gamblers Anonymous
  • GAM-ANON
  • National Council on Problem Gambling