Current Trends and Future Directions in the Study of Psychosocial Treatments for Pathological Gambling

ABSTRACT—Pathological gambling is a psychiatric disor-der that has considerable public-health implications. Promising treatments for pathological gambling have been identified. However, most treatment research is limited by methodological problems that preclude drawing conclu-sions about treatment efficacy. We explore the empirical evidence for some currently practiced treatments for pathological gambling. We also discuss some of the chal-lenges and future directions for research on how to treat the disorder. KEYWORDS—pathological gambling; treatment; psycho-therapy Pathological gambling is an impulse-control disorder that re-sults in disruptions of personal, family, and vocational activities (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Pathological gam