Problem Gambling is Not a Major Issue....Wanna Bet?

Steve Gray, LMFT, Certified Problem Gambling Treatment Provider

Gambling Disorder is easily missed by clinicians. There are no physical symptoms as with Substance Abuse Disorders and clients are frequently motivated to hide or minimize the extent of their gambling, presenting, instead, issues with depression, anxiety, sleep disturbance, domestic violence, relationship difficulties, etc. This presentation will familiarize clinicians with the disorder by presenting some basic statistics for gambling in the United States, and Problem Gambling specifically. Terms will be defined and there will be a review of the changes from DSM IV to DSM V. Screening instruments will be reviewed that can be used to determine the existence of a gambling problem and classify its severity. A cognitive-behavioral treatment  methodology will be summarized. Community and professional treatment resources will be presented. Co-morbidity with other disorders will be discussed.

• Become familiar with the existence and use of different screening instruments to diagnose gambling disorder
  

• Increase awareness of risk factors, prevalence, modes of expression, and consequences of gambling disorder
  

• Enhance knowledge of some of the mechanisms contributing to the maintenance of the problem behavior and interventions to assist the client in behavior change
  

• Increase knowledge of treatment resources available for problem gamblers

Steve Gray graduated from the University of Redlands with a BA in Spanish in 1970 and from California State University, San Bernardino with an MS in Psychology in 1985. He has been an LMFT since 1987 and is currently working with a private, full service, employee assistance provider offering short-term therapy, training, consultation, referrals and critical incident debriefings.   He has been certified since April, 2011 by the State of California to provide specialized gambling treatment services under the auspices of the Office of Problem Gambling, California Department of Public Health.

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