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Effect of a Brief Meditation Intervention on Gambling Cravings and Rates of Delay Discounting

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Abstract

Meditation practice may be a useful intervention to reduce cravings and impulsivity among gamblers. Fifty-nine participants (90% female, mean age = 21.6 years) completed pre-intervention questionnaires including the Gambling Craving Scale (GACS) and a delay discounting task. Next, they were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: (1) audio-guided mindfulness-based meditation exercises or (2) audiobook recordings (control condition). After listening to 10-min daily audio recordings for a week, participants completed post-intervention measures. Contrary to hypothesis, gambling measures were not correlated with delay discounting. However, dispositional mindfulness was inversely related to a self-report measure of impulsivity and problem gambling severity. The hypothesized interaction between time (pre- vs. post-intervention) and condition (meditation exercises vs. audiobook recordings) was significant for gambling cravings among gamblers (n = 39), with those in the meditation condition showing a significant reduction in gambling cravings which highlights the potential benefits of meditation practice to reduce gambling cravings.

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Shead, N.W., Champod, A.S. & MacDonald, A. Effect of a Brief Meditation Intervention on Gambling Cravings and Rates of Delay Discounting. Int J Ment Health Addiction 18, 1247–1263 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-019-00133-x

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