Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Pathological Gambling

January 4, 2010 updated by: University of Minnesota
The purpose of the study is to evaluate a new form of counseling for pathological gambling and to see if the counseling is more effective than attending Gamblers Anonymous.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Subjects will be assigned to counseling or be given a referral list of available Gamblers Anonymous meetings at the first visit based on answers to questions. Assignment to counseling or Gamblers Anonymous will be randomly selected (i.e. chance) with an equal chance of receiving either one. For those assigned to counseling, you will meet with the therapist for 60 minutes weekly. You will receive 5 sessions of counseling.

All subjects will be assessed with gambling questionnaires twice during the 5-week period and again at 3 and 6 months following the 5-week period.

For those assigned to Gamblers Anonymous, they will be offered 5 weeks of counseling at the end of the 6-month follow-up.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

76

Phase

  • Phase 2

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Minnesota
      • Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, 55454
        • University of Minnesota Medical Center

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 75 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Outpatient men and women age 18 to 75
  2. Presence of current DSM-IV pathological gambling for at least 6 months duration
  3. PG is the most problematic psychiatric disorder (in the patient's and clinician's opinion) and the primary reason for seeking treatment
  4. Minimum score of >5 on the South Oaks Gambling Screen which reflects gambling severity consistent with pathological gambling

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Current clinically significant suicidality, severe depression (a score of ≥ 19 on the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression, 17-item version)(30) or any other disorder requiring immediate intervention
  2. Presence of any clinical features requiring a higher level of care than outpatient treatment
  3. Cognitive impairment that interferes with the capacity to engage in CBT or to provide informed consent
  4. DSM-IV substance abuse or dependence within the past 3 months (see Screening Visit)
  5. Current Axis I diagnosis of bipolar disorder or psychotic disorder
  6. Previous treatment of CBT for PG (duration of at least 6 sessions); because CBT is not widely used for PG, a minimum of 6 treatments will be rare.
  7. Current use of psychotropic medications or within 2 months prior to study entry.
  8. Current participation in Gambler's Anonymous (GA).

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Weekly Cognitive Behavior therapy
Behavioral: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
5-weeks of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Other Names:
  • CBT
Other: Wait-list
Subjects in wait-list for six-weeks
Behavioral: Wait-list
subjects assigned to wait-list condition for six-weeks

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
PG-YBOCS
Time Frame: At each visit prior to and after therapy has been completed
At each visit prior to and after therapy has been completed

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Time spent gambling
Time Frame: At each visit prior to and after therapy has been completed
At each visit prior to and after therapy has been completed

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Minnesota

Collaborators

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

June 1, 2006

Primary Completion (Actual)

June 1, 2009

Study Completion (Actual)

June 1, 2009

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 14, 2006

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 14, 2006

First Posted (Estimate)

June 16, 2006

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

January 5, 2010

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 4, 2010

Last Verified

January 1, 2010

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 0503M68191
  • K23MH069754-01A1 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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