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Latest Developments in Treatment for Disordered Gambling: Review and Critical Evaluation of Outcome Studies

  • Gambling (J Derevensky, Section Editor)
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Abstract

Purpose of review

Over the last decade, treatments for disordered gambling have developed rapidly. The goal of this paper is to review and to critically evaluate the literature published on the treatment of disordered gambling in the past 3 years. Important findings are emphasized and accompanied by the authors’ personal observations on controversial results or hypotheses of interest.

Recent findings

Cognitive-behavioral interventions have been evaluated in treatment of Hong Kong Chinese individuals as well as in combination with mindfulness-based approaches. Personalized-feedback interventions have received increased attention, with brief treatments demonstrating overall efficacy. Pharmacological treatments continue to receive only limited support. On the other hand, web-based treatments appear to show promise.

Summary

Cognitive-behavioral and brief treatments remain the most empirically supported approaches, but new inventive combinations of treatments such as web-based therapies are emerging. Future research could benefit from diversification of types of treatments evaluated as well as an examination of what is considered “evidence-based.”

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Papers of particular interest, published recently, have been highlighted as: • Of importance

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Calgary, 2500 University Dr. NW, Calgary, AB, T2N1N4, Canada

    Igor Yakovenko & David C. Hodgins

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  1. Igor Yakovenko
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  2. David C. Hodgins
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Correspondence to Igor Yakovenko.

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Igor Yakovenko and David C. Hodgins declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Gambling

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Yakovenko, I., Hodgins, D.C. Latest Developments in Treatment for Disordered Gambling: Review and Critical Evaluation of Outcome Studies. Curr Addict Rep 3, 299–306 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40429-016-0110-2

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