For a gambler, staying in a meaningless existence of chasing losses, secrecy and feelings of imminent doom, is a torturous and anxious way to live. The only medication that works for this is the certainty that their next bet, gamble, scratch-card, race or hand will be successful. Gamblers can turn the most benign of activities into a gamble, recognising this and helping them to become honest about their thinking patterns is incredibly important.

We rely heavily on collateral about the Problem Gambler in order to accelerate the initial evaluation process and to ascertain such factors as the extent of the gambling problem, the repercussions of the excessive gambling habits on the person’s life (financial, emotional, social, psychological, existential and familial), the presence of other mental disorders and addictions, the risk of suicide, and so forth. Depending on the complexity of the diagnosis / addiction, the treatment period we would aim for would be 12 weeks.