![\"\"](\"http:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/images\/blogpics\/Dice.jpg\" "\\"gambling\\"")
Australia’s first guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of problem gamblers highlight the importance of professional help for the thousands of Australians who struggle to control their gambling.<\/p>\nFrom the Monash University press release:<\/p>\n
Australia’s first guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of problem gamblers highlight the importance of professional help for the thousands of Australians who struggle to control their gambling.<\/p>\n
State Minister for Gaming, Michael O’Brien will launch the\u00c2\u00a0Guideline for Screening, Assessment and Treatment of in Problem Gambling<\/em> on Friday as part of the National Association of Gambling Studies annual conference.<\/p>\n The guide was developed by the Problem Gambling Research and Treatment Centre (PGRTC), a collaboration between Monash University, the University of Melbourne and the Victorian Government. It was based on a review of peer-reviewed research.<\/p>\n Recommendations emphasise the effectiveness of psychological interventions delivered by qualified health practitioners, such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), rather than self-help treatments.<\/strong><\/p>\n Other recommended treatments include motivational interviewing<\/strong>, group therapies <\/strong>and the use of anti-addiction drug Naltrexone in some circumstances. The guidelines note that antidepressant medications should not be expected to reduce gambling severity in people with gambling problems alone.<\/p>\n Director of the PGRTC, Monash University’s Professor Shane Thomas said the guide was developed for problem gambling services, practitioners and policy-makers.<\/p>\n “It’s the first comprehensive, evidence-based guide for tackling problem gambling,” Professor Thomas said.<\/p>\n “We expect the guidelines to consolidate current practices. CBT, the most highly recommended intervention, is already widely practiced.”<\/p>\n The Productivity Commission estimated that 2.1 per cent of Australians have difficulty controlling their gambling.<\/p>\n The guide, which has been approved by the National Health and Medical Research Council, will be reviewed and updated every three to five years to incorporate the latest research.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From the Monash University press release: Australia’s first guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of problem gamblers highlight the importance of professional help for the thousands of Australians who struggle… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[21,47,52,53,12,51],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":146,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144\/revisions\/146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}