An Interview on Problem Gambling Prevention with Dr. McCown

Post Intro for Dr. William G. McCown Interview
on
Problem Gambling Prevention

Only a single-digit percentage of the population have or will have serious problems with gambling. If one says “3% of the population”, it might sound small. If one says, “10 Million people in America”, it sounds a bit larger. However you mentally classify it, big or small, it's common enough that few people, if any, get through life without at least knowing someone that has struggled with this issue. For this reason you may wish to read about problem gambling prevention, even if you are sure you don't personally have a problem. The knowledge could enable you to help someone else down the road.

Here are the links to part 1 & 2 of the interview.

Part 1

Part 2

One thing that came out during the interview is that if reading about problem gambling unsettles you or makes you angry, it could be a defensive mechanism. Even if none of this information has any bearing on you or your life, reading about it should be at worst a brief waste of your time. It should not upset you. If it does, something is wrong. ~FK

Your comments could make someone believe that you have a medical degree in mental illness.
I do not believe that you have such a degree, so I think you need to to just print what the real doctors have to say and not give your opinion like you are part of the research team.

You start off selling, then bam! You are a giving advice like a medical doctor.

"FK Comment: "Cognitive behavioral therapy," you mean like reading my articles? Never mind, don’t bother answering that, we both know your books have been my main inspiration. I know how much of these changes are because of you. Major kudos Dr.!!!"

"FK Comment: Of course, this has been the subject of many of my articles. I’m glad to see I’ve been addressing what you consider to be the only real prevention technique currently available."

"FK Comment: So if you know you have any of these problems, be especially cautious of gambling as a pastime. If you suspect you might have one of these problems, find out first for sure, before you play. If it turns out you don’t, you can gamble with more peace of mind. If it turns out you do, you have just avoided one problem, and helped another you did not know you had."


....and no, I am not what your last paragraph suggests in your OP. Reading about problem gambling does not make me angry, you do with your comments. In fact, I found what the "real doctor" had to say very interesting.

Hey thanks for taking time to share with us.... Vegas odds have about 3% of the total LVA Membership actually clicking those links.

Did you mean Dr. McCLOWN?

Good stuff, Frank.

I'll offer my comments/observations.

1. Money as a cue for gambling? What is the basis that money is more of a cue for gambling than other things associated with other addictive behaviors?

2. Dr. McCown talked about pathological, problem, abusive and addicted like they are different levels of addiction. Are these levels defined formally?

3. When Dr. McCown mentioned that the drug of choice in substance abuse came in cycles while gambling addiction did not follow a cycle, you implied it was due to genetic predisposition. I don't agree with your conclusion. The drug of choice is based on factors out of control of the junkie. If the Feds crack down on poppies in Afghanistan then oxycodone becomes more popular on the street. Personally, I think there is genetic predisposition to abusive behavior; not just gambling but all kinds. The drug du jour is just a popularity and availability thing.

4. The ability to teach someone to stop making illogical distortions seems easy to say but very difficult to achieve. How does one really acheive this?

5. I've been blessed to never win big at gambling when I started to play. In fact, I had horrible luck and gambling was a chore to drive an hour and give the casino $100 that I had worked hard to earn. Even today, I know the math is against me so I don't expect to win. My wife says she's very happy that her son, who likes to gamble, has never hit it big. She prefers that he loses a small amount every time he plays so he won't develop any bad habits/behaviors.

6. It is easy to say that if you have an indication commonly comorbid with problem gambling that you are at greater risk but I just can't see someone with a mental disease being astute enough to take proper precautions. Doc Daneeka would be proud of you.

7. Dopamine release on solving the randomness of a system might explain the popularity of Words With Friends and other such puzzle games.

8. Bitter people at risk for gambling addiction. None of those types of people here.

9. Some people just like to over-analyze things. People with spreadsheets at the track might not look like they're having fun but who is to decide what is fun for someone else? My wife picks horses by name. If the race has no names she likes, she sits it out. If I had more time and slightly more ambition, I'd work on a spreadsheet system and calculators and all that. The goal isn't to win a particular race but to develop a system that will predict the races. The fun is working on the algorithms and math. The track itself is the laboratory.

Frank,

Is it your belief that addictive behavior can be cured through cognitive therapy? That is, can you take an alcoholic and turn him/her into a social drinker or turn a gambling addict into a 'normal' recreational gambler? Is that the claim? Or is CT just a method to get the problem drinker/gambler/message board junkie to quit the activity entirely?

I am sorry my writing style left you with any negative attitude towards the interview and if I'd had your input before publishing it, I'd probably have incorporated your suggestions. It's too late now to change it, so all I can do is try to explain why I said what I said.

The entire article including the my comments and the articles I referenced were reviewed by Dr. McCown. No I don't have a medical degree, which is why when I talk about such important sensitive subjects I either quote doctors directly or have one review my writing. Dr. McCown isn't always available, but I also have another psychologist here in town that I work with and co-author articles. The articles I have written lately on cognitive distortion were indeed directly inspired by Dr. McCown's work. And even though some of my articles have a psychological bend to them, I mostly talk about casino misconceptions, which my 24 years as a professional gambler actually makes me more qualified to talk about than a psychologist that does not gamble.

I'm glad you found what he had to say interesting. As far as you being angry at me, I expected some people to want to shoot the messenger, as Dr. McCown said during the interview the normal response for many people when confronted with this type of information is anger.

He said, "When confronted, someone’s initial reaction will likely be to think that you're crazy and then they will think that you are picking on them. None of us likes to change. Nobody likes to hear very serious bad news. Therefore, this response is natural."

I would point out only one more thing: I did not write those comments to you, or in fact at anyone for whom they do not apply. I wrote them for people for whom the information does apply.

If it doesn't apply to you, just ignore it or store it away for possible use helping someone else.

~FK

I'm going to have to research a couple of the things you asked about and I'm out of coffee. If not today then first thing tomorrow.

Lots of alcoholics are aware of their problems. Doesn't help them stay on the wagon.

I don't have any personal beliefs when it comes to stuff like this. I can tell you what I've read.

From what Dr. MaCown has said in his most recent book Treating Gambling Problems, cognitive therapy is used in conjunction with other treatment strategies like GA. Most if not all of those treatment strategies involve total abstinence. I doubt if there is much research on curing addictive behavior with purely cognitive therapy. It has mostly been used as an adjunct to other older approaches. It is known that it works well as an "as well as" therapy, there is very little evidence that it would work as an, "instead of" approach.

As the doctor brought out, cognitive therapy's inclusion in problem gambling treatment has seen a ten-fold increase in the success rates. Only in the last decade has problem gambling treatment actually worked.

In the next three months I intend to read up on the latest cognitive therapy strategies and will share whatever I learn.