A randomized controlled trial of a single session motivational intervention for concerned gamblers.

Motivational interviewing (MI) is a promising brief intervention for people who wish to cut down or quit gambling. The study was a randomized clinical trial that tested the efficacy of a single face-to-face MI compared with a control interview (CI) for reducing gambling behaviours in individuals who expressed concerns about their gambling. Eighty-one media recruited gamblers were followed at 1, 3, 6 and 12 months post-intervention.

Does providing extended relapse prevention bibliotherapy to problem gamblers improve outcome?

Relapse rates among pathological gamblers are high with as many as 75% of gamblers returning to gambling shortly after a serious attempt to quit. The present study focused on providing a low cost, easy to access relapse prevention program to such individuals. Based on information collected in our ongoing study of the process of relapse, a series of relapse prevention booklets were developed and evaluated.

Narrowing of Attention and Dissociation in Pathological Video Lottery Gamblers.

The phenomena of attention and dissociation were investigated in pathological and occasional video lottery (VLT) gamblers. Twelve problem VLT gamblers [mean age 41.3; 6 male, 6 female; South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS; Lesieur & Blume, 1987) scores >/= 5] were compared to a group of 11 occasional VLT gamblers, (mean age 31.