Association for Cognitive and Behavioral Psychotherapies
Abstract
Pathological gambling is a mental disorder characterized by continuous and repetitive gambling behavior and it might
cause significant losses in social, professional and family life. There may also be some personal and social results of it
such as suicide attempts, loss of job, marital problems, and troubles in family life, legal difficulties and criminal behavior.
Co-occurring mental disorders might influence treatment outcomes of pathological gambling behavior. There are some
reports suggesting that especially higher depression levels may increase the likelihood of gambling behavior and it has
also been stressed that identification and early treatment of co-occurring depression in treatment process should improve
the results and reduce relapse rates. There is not an standardized treatment modality for the treatment of the disorder.
It is known that in the treatment of this condition, which results in personal and social failure, psychological intervention
may have positive results both in the short and long term. As pathological gambling is not a homogenous disorder,
individual planning is essential for the evaluation and therapy. Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy seems to be efficient
in the treatment of pathological gambling especially in coping with emotional problems and feeling of discomfort through
making up a holistic cognitive, emotional, and behavioral model. In this report, the effectiveness of Rational Emotive
Behavior Therapy that accompanied a drug therapy is discussed in a case of a pathological gambling with comorbid
depression