Pharmacotherapy and group cognitive behavioral therapy enhance follow-up treatment duration in gambling disorder patients

Abstract

Background Longer treatment duration is important for the successful treatment of gambling disorder (GD). This retrospective study investigated the factors and interventions that might enhance treatment duration in GD patients in South Korea.MethodsA total of 758 outpatients with a primary diagnosis of GD, who were treated in a clinical practice from 2002 to 2011, were assessed by retrospective chart review. We compared the treatment duration according to pharmacotherapy and group cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).ResultsPharmacotherapy contributed to a longer duration of treatment maintenance, despite the patients’ gambling severity (p < 0.001). Participation in group CBT (p < 0.001) and antidepressants (p = 0.009) were associated with a longer treatment duration after adjusting for age, depression, and gambling severity. The treatment maintenance duration was the longest in those receiving combined antidepressant pharmacotherapy and group CBT (F = 35.79, p < 0.001).ConclusionsGroup CBT and antidepressants seem to enhance treatment follow-up duration in GD patients. Additional studies are needed to advance GD prevention and treatment strategies.

Treatment modalities for patients with gambling disorder

“…One study of CBT versus escitalopram combined with CBT reported that escitalopram did not appear to enhance the CBT treatment outcome [ 106 ]. Choi et al conducted a retrospective chart review to compare treatment duration according to pharmacotherapy and group CBT [ 107 ]. They reported that combined group CBT and any type of medication showed significantly longer treatment maintenance duration than pharmacotherapy or group CBT alone.…”

Cognitive behavioural therapy with pharmacotherapy for pathological gambling patient: case report

“…However, since the literature studies regarding the efficiency of antidepressant drugs for gambling behaviour are complicated, and due to promising results of cognitive behavioural approaches together with pharmacotherapy in recent years [6,10,11]. A recently published study reported that a combination of group CBT and antidepressants were found as the most effective intervention in maintaining the treatment of PG patients [9]. In the study, group CBT and any types of medications were associated with lower rate of dropouts.…”

“…Early diagnosis and treatment of depression comorbidity decrease recurrence rate [5]. There have been psychological interventions(Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), family therapy, gamblers anonymous) and pharmacological interventions (SSRIs, Mood Stabilizers, Antipsychotic Drugs, and Naltrexone) among the treatment strategies of PG [6][7][8][9]. Nevertheless, there is no standard treatment model for PG [10][11][12].…”

“…In addition, there are also studies showing that pharmacotherapy has no different effects than placebo [3,10]. Successful and promising results are obtained with CBT and pharmacotherapy [6,9,14,15]. Only a limited number of cases were shared in a few journals about PG in Turkish population [11,12,16] Therefore, there is no standard treatment model for PG, this study aims to publish for literature a case that achieved successful results with Duloxetine treatment and simple CBT techniques in the treatment of PG in the practice of psychiatry.…”

Effective Treatment and Support for Problem Gambling

“…retrospective chart review study of 758 South Korean outpatients being treated for gambling disorder (based on DSM-IV criteria), patients who received group CBT remained in treatment longer (i.e., were less likely to drop out) than outpatients receiving individual psychotherapy 25. …”