INCREASING THE ODDS A Series Dedicated to Understanding Gambling Disorders What Clinicians Need to Know About Gambling Disorders

©2012 National Center for Responsible Gaming (NCRG). All rights reserved. Parts of this publication may be quoted as long as the author(s) and NCRG are duly recognized. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted for commercial purposes without prior permission from the NCRG. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The NCRG would like to recognize NAADAC, the Association for Addiction Professionals, for their partnership and dedication to increasing the understanding of gambling disorders among the addictions that people face in their daily lives. Their collaboration and support is a key part of this edition of Increasing the Odds. Health care providers who specialize in addiction face a host of challenges in their clinical practice, including growing pressure from insurers and the government to use evidence-based treatment practices. Because estimates show that it takes as many as 10 to 15 years for research findings to be applied in clinical settings, the gap between research and practice is wide, making it difficult to employ practices that are informed by the most recent research. For the field of gambling disorders, the chasm is especially wide because of the relatively young nature of this research, as compared to studies on alcohol and drug disorders. Since the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) first recognized pathological gambling in 1980, the research base on gambling disorders has grown tremendously, thanks in part to the National Center for Responsible Gaming (NCRG). For more than 16 years, the NCRG has been dedicated to funding scientific research on gambling disorders and translating research findings into practical applications for health care providers and the public. The inspiration for this publication emerged from discussions between the NCRG and NAADAC, the Association for Addiction Professionals, about the development of a new certification program for alcohol and drug counselors interested in becoming specialists on gambling disorders. NAADAC's mission is to lead, unify and empower addiction focused professionals to achieve excellence through education, advocacy, knowledge, standards of practice, ethics, professional development and research. NAADAC shares the NCRG's concerns about the gap between new science and clinical practice in the field of gambling addiction, and the two organizations forged a partnership to develop a new gambling credential. As a part of this partnership, the NCRG enlisted the help of leading investigators and experts in the field of gambling disorders to write reviews of the seminal research on this topic. These white papers …