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UK First National Clinic for Problem Gambling
The United Kingdom is perhaps the world leader in
regulating online casinos. Not only did they legalize and regulate
online casinos successfully, a United Kingdom Health initiative was put
forward to provide advice and treatment compulsive gamblers. That
initiative finally matured in the form of the very first National
Problem Gambling Clinic.
Although clinic was only opened on a 12 month trial
basis, it has already attracted a lot of interest. The clinic is
staffed out with psychiatrists, psychologists, debt management
counselors, and family therapists.
“We have developed a unique treatment package to address specific
difficulties that are common to problem gamblers,” said Doctor Henrietta
Bowden-Jones, the lead consultant psychiatrist at the National Problem
Gambling Clinic.
“Due to the nature of their addiction, gamblers'
finances are often in bad shape so an important part of treatment is to
tackle debt management and employment issues. We also address the needs
of clients' partners and family members who have been affected by their
gambling disorder and any coexisting mental health conditions such as
depression.”
The primary form of care that will patients will
receive is motivational interviewing and cognitive behavioral therapy.
Debt management will also play a major part in treatment.
It is important to have some form of gambling
assistance in a country where online casinos are legalized. In some
cases it has been shown that people that gamble at online casinos are
slower to recognize that they have a gambling problem. Some are less
inclined to admit it because they can gamble in the privacy of their own
homes.
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