**4. The prevalence of gambling disorder**

Between 1997 and 2007, Muňoz-Molina performed an extensive study on the prevalence of gambling disorder, and he found that it is situated between 0.6% in Norway [11] and 7.6% in USA [12] among the adults, while the prevalence for teenagers is at approximately the same high level, respectively 0.8% in Switzerland [13] and USA [14].

Disley et al. [15] specified the fact that there are certain categories of the population upon which there have not been studies on the prevalence on the gambling addiction, namely incarcerated people, homeless people, and active military officials.

Gambling disorder is defined by the DSM-5 Diagnostic Criteria [16] as a "Persistent and recurrent problematic gambling behavior leading to clinically significant impairment or distress, as indicated by the individual exhibiting four (or more) of the following in a 12-month period:


In an explorative study carried out by Fernandez-Montalvo and Echeburua [17], the following personality profile of the compulsive gamblers is depicted: they are impulsive, present the slight symptoms of depression and anxiety, and have the tendency to consume alcohol in an abusive manner and to experience difficulty adjusting to daily life; a percentage of 16% fulfills the criteria for a diagnosis of the borderline personality disorder, followed by antisocial behavior, narcissism, and paranoia.

**6. Treating gambling disorder**

guidance for follow-up counseling.

ing aspects [23]:

• Problems in family relations;

• Lying, to cover these activities;

• Development of tolerance.

• Progressive psychological disorder;

• A high rate of relapse;

• Loss of control;

psychopharmacology in the case of intervention.

want to get involved, and their family is not supportive.

• An increased desire to gamble (or to ingest substances);

• Denial of the severity of the problem by the addict;

• The increased preoccupation with these activities;

different forms of treatment for gambling disorder [24–26, 6–7, 27].

Gambling disorder is best described as being a syndrome, and from this perspective, the most efficient treatment reflects a multimodal approach, which bases itself upon a personalized and complex treatment plan. Multidimensional treatments thus include different combinations of therapeutic, financial, and educational counseling, as well as self-help, psychotherapy, and

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Gambling Addiction http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.72671 165

There is a wide range of treatment programs for compulsive gambling, based on the specific professional expertise of the therapist and the existing therapeutic resources. Primary medical care programs tend to offer more screening, short-term pharmacological treatment, and

The problems faced by specialists when starting treatment with compulsive gamblers mainly relate to the fact that they deny that they have an addiction problem, they are not informed on the fact that there are qualified professionals in this field, they are fearful of the fact that they could be stigmatized, often they do not want to give up gambling, their partner does now

The treatment for the gambling disorder shares many similarities with the treatment for drug addiction, and it involves the development and techniques and measures to cope with the phenomenology of craving that characterizes any addiction and has a neurophysiological substrate. In drug and alcohol addiction and even in gambling disorder, we find the follow-

Until the present day, there have been relatively few studies on checking the efficiency of the

**Pharmacological treatment** has some promising results in ameliorating some comorbidities, such as impulsivity and mood disorders, but the results of the efficiency studies for this type
