Understanding Behavioural Addictions and Treating Pathological Gambling

Behavioural addiction shares similarities with substance-related addiction but it concerns a rewarding activity, such as gambling or gaming. This webinar presents an overview of the growing field of behavioural addiction and discusses why certain behaviours are considered addictions. It summarises influential models and theories, shedding light on the psychology of addictive behaviour, and warning against the danger of pathologizing common behaviours. As the treatment for behavioural addiction is evolving, the webinar focuses on the evidence-based treatment for pathological gambling, the first officially recognised form of behavioural addiction.

The National Gambling Clinic (NGC) and Central and North West London (CNWL) NHS Foundation Trust have offered evidence-based treatment for gambling disorder since 2008. With the need for a public health approach to gambling harms being increasingly recognised (Goyder, Blank, Baxter, & van Schalkwyk, 2020), the NHS now funds treatment for those experiencing such harms across England.  This webinar presents the service model developed at the NGC, the first NHS clinic treating pathological gambling.

It also presents the CBT treatment protocol adapted and refined by the clinic over the years. The CBT protocol, published in a self-help book (Bowden-Jones & Leonidaki, 2022), is at the heart of the treatment programme.  Delivered by a leading clinical psychologist, this training event also explains the role of integrating systemic and relational factors in the treatment of pathological gambling. The treatment principles presented here may be relevant, at least to some extent, to other forms of behavioural addiction. 

Skills You will Learn

After the course, attendees are expected to be able to:

• Recognise the signs, harms, and shared mechanisms of behaviours falling into the remit of behavioural addiction 
• Identify the main types of gambling and assess the extent to which gambling has become problematic
• Explain the cognitive, behavioural, relational, systemic and contextual factors underpinning pathological gambling and behavioural addictions
• Offer practical tools (e.g. stimulus control; motivation interviewing) to help with early change 
• Understand what a typical course of treatment for pathological gambling includes and how to transfer existing CBT and psychotherapeutic skills to work with this client group

Target audience

This course is suitable for psychologist practitioners working in primary care/mental health/substance use/forensic/CAMHS settings and private practice, who would like to enrich their knowledge in the area of behavioural addiction and develop relevant skills. It will also be beneficial for a range of professionals working in similar settings, including psychiatrists, doctors, nurses, drug workers, CAMHS/ youth workers, cognitive behavioural therapists and psychotherapists. It is highly recommended that attendees have generic therapeutic competencies and basic CBT competencies before attending this course.

References

• Bowden-Jones, H., & Leonidaki V. (2022). Breaking free: How to stop gambling. Cambridge University Press. 

• Goyder, E., Blank, L., Baxter, S., & van Schalkwyk, M. (2020), Tackling gambling related harms as a public health issue. The Lancet, 5 (1), e14–15