Three patterns of recovery after cognitive behavioural therapy among young men with gambling disorder

View Open Access Article View Snapshot Back to Search Results

snapshot summaries

Author(s): Granero, Roser ; Valero-Solís, Susana ; Fernández-Aranda, Fernando ; Gómez-Peña, Monica ; Moragas, Laura ; Mena-Moreno, Teresa ; Del Pino-Gutiérrez, Amparo ; Codina, Ester ; Martín-Romera, Virginia ; Casalé, Gemma ; Agüera, Zaida ; Baenas-Soto, Isabel ; Valenciano-Mendoza, Eduardo ; Mora-Maltas, Bernat ; Sánchez, Isabel ; Lozano-Madrid, María ; Menchón, José M. ; Jiménez-Murcia, Susana

Journal: Journal of Behavioral Addictions

Year Published: 2020

Date Added: October 19, 2020

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is used to treat gambling disorder (GD). However, we do not know if there are different recovery patterns after receiving CBT. This study followed 192 young male patients with GD while they attended a 16-week CBT program. It tracked their gambling behaviour and psychological state for six months after the CBT treatment ended. Participants fit into three distinct groups based on how they responded to the CBT. In two groups, participants responded well to CBT and their GD levels decreased and stayed low for the six months following CBT. In the third group, participants GD improved somewhat with CBT. However, this improvement did not last after the CBT sessions ended. Participants in this group had higher harm avoidance and lower self-directedness. This could make them more vulnerable to relapse.

Citation: Granero, R., Valero-Solis, S., Fernández-Aranda, F., Gómez-Peña, M., Moragas, L., Mena-Moreno, T., … Jiménez Murcia, S. (2020). Response trajectories of gambling severity after cognitive behavioral therapy in young-adult pathological gamblers. Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 9(1), 140–152. https://doi.org/10.1556/2006.2020.00008

Article DOI: https://doi.org/10.1556/2006.2020.00008

Keywords: Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) ; gambling disorder ; latent class growth analysis ; personality ; psychological predictors ; response trajectories

Topics: Gambling and the Brain ; Information for Treatment Providers ; Personality

Conceptual Framework Factors: Psychological - Personality and Temperament ; Psychological Factors ; Psychological - Coping Styles ; Resources - Service Access and Use ; Gambling Resources ; Resources - Interventions

Response Rate: Unknown, N=192 (who completed the CBT portion of the study) and N=137 (who completed both the CBT portion and all of the follow-ups for six months; dropout rate = 28.6%)

Study Design: Observational: Case Series

Geographic Coverage: Spain, Barcelona

Study Population: Young men (18–35 years old) with gambling disorder who were seeking treatment at a hospital in Barcelona, Spain (N=192)

Sampling Procedure: Recruited participants who fit criteria and were seeking treatment for gambling disorder at a hospital in Barcelona, Spain

Study Funding:

This study was supported by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (PSI2015-68701-R), the Delegación del Gobierno para el Plan Nacional sobre Drogas (2017I067, 2019I47), Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) (FIS PI14/00290, PI17/01167) and co-funded by FEDER funds/European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). TMM and MLM are supported by a predoctoral Grant of the Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte (FPU16/02087; FPU15/02911).