Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in Gambling Disorder: A Case Report

In this case report, a 26-year-old male client with symptoms of gambling disorder according to DSM-5 diagnostic criteria was treated with cognitive behavioral therapy. The client stated that he had been gambling for many years and his life had been going incompletely due to his systematic gambling behavior. Although he resorted to many methods that he thought were logical and functional, he emphasized that he could not overcome this addiction. Realizing that these methods did not contribute to the healing process, the client reported that he had come to the point of losing his belief in himself and sought professional support. For this, the client was first given comprehensive information about the disease and psychoeducational techniques were applied to improve the person's coping skills, self-control and self-responsibility skills. With the interventions made in the behavioral dimension after the intellectual dimension, the intermediary behaviors that reveal the gambling behavior were emphasised. As a result of the interventions, the therapy process resulted in only a few behavioral changes. More studies are needed on interventions specific to this pathology in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. In this way, guiding and well-being-enhancing gains will be achieved in interventions for gambling disorder with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.