Examining the effects of mindfulness practice and trait mindfulness on gambling symptoms in women with gambling disorder: a feasibility study

A preregistered, systematic review considering mindfulness-based interventions and neurofeedback for targeting affective and cognitive processes in behavioral addictions.

“…In the sense of stress responsiveness, Choi et al (2020) found reduced stress levels among people who use smartphones exclusively in the mindfulness group and therefore reported a successful effect of their school program. In contrast, van der Tempel et al (2020) did not find reductions in stress tolerance among individuals with gambling problems, which is surprising as the most prominent outcome feature of mindfulness practices is typically improved management of stressors and stress reactions (Chiesa & Serretti, 2009). Given that few studies have investigated effects of MBIs on stress responsiveness, this area of research should be pursued further.…”

“…Only one study focused on cognitive biases in the context of gambling. For their MBI, van der Tempel et al (2020) reported longer reaction times in a gambling Stroop task toward gambling-related cues compared to neutral cues at pre- and postassessment. However, they did not report reductions in a gambling cognitive bias during the course of treatment.…”

“…In a CBT-resistant patient with gambling disorder, von Hammerstein et al (2018) found promising effects with regard to craving reductions during combined mindfulness-based relapse therapy. Further, van der Tempel et al (2020) tested the therapeutic potential of a 10-week MBI in individuals with gambling problems. The treatment was originally developed for social anxiety (Kocovski et al, 2009) and was modified for gambling triggers and urges.…”

“…Almost all experimental studies and all case studies found improvements with regard to symptom severity from immediately before to immediately after intervention, either in within-subject comparisons (Choi et al, 2020; de Lisle et al, 2011; Ke & Shih-Tsung, 2019; Li et al, 2018, 2017; McIntosh et al, 2016; Toneatto et al, 2014; Van Gordon et al, 2016; von Hammerstein et al, 2018; Yao et al, 2017) or in postintervention group comparisons (Quinones & Griffiths, 2019), except for van der Tempel et al (2020) and Lan et al (2018). Shead et al (2020) and Melero Ventola et al (2020) did not assess changes in symptom severity.…”

“…Regarding symptom severity (de Lisle et al, 2011; Ke & Shih-Tsung, 2019; Lan et al, 2018; Li et al, 2017; McIntosh et al, 2016; Quinones & Griffiths, 2019; Toneatto et al, 2014; van der Tempel et al, 2020; Van Gordon et al, 2016; von Hammerstein et al, 2018; Yao et al, 2017), the largest effect sizes (Table 2) were found for the mindfulness-oriented recovery enhancement among individuals with gaming problems (Li et al, 2018, 2017) and mindfulness meditation among individuals with gambling problems (McIntosh et al, 2016). It is possible if not likely that symptom severity is reduced if mindfulness techniques successfully address affective and cognitive mechanisms.…”