The Efficacy of Therapy Focused on Desire-satisfaction for Disordered Gamblers

The investigators proposed a desire satisfaction-targeted intervention for disordered gamblers (DTIG) due to the limitations of the abstinence-targeted intervention, which is based on the weak self-control relative to growing desire to gamble. This intervention model perceives loss of gambling control as a failure of strategy in which gambling is anticipated to fulfill various desires (i.e., desires for fame, money, and escapism). Therefore, the alternative behaviors to fulfill original desires directly become the main therapeutic purpose. Materials and Methods: Outpatients who were primarily diagnosed as gambling disorder by the DSM-V were treated by DTIG. This method usually comprised 1 or 2 sessions, 60 minutes in duration, delivered by a psychiatrist. Participants were examined : 1) Basic background such as gender, age,; 2) medical variables such as the onset age, the duration of the problem gambling, psychiatric complications, motivation to quit gambling; 3) assessment of severity (DSM-5, SOGS and G-SAS); 4) Short prognosis; 6 months-outcome after intervention (problem gambling/ control gambling/ abstinence).