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Classical and Operant Paradigms in the Management of Gambling Addictions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 June 2009

R. I. F. Brown
R. I. F. Brown
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Glasgow
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Abstract

Previous (mainly classical) conditioning and current (mainly operant) approaches to the treatment of gambling addictions are reviewed in the light of recent evidence of the central importance of heightened arousal in the experience of normal gambling. Within a general framework which views the central features of addiction as the phenomenology of arousal and the acquisition of altered states of consciousness as goals, the possible contributions of reversal theory are explored. A more detailed examination of operant and classical conditioning analyses of the maintenance and reinstatement of excessive gambling behaviour appears to point towards a return to interventions based upon classical conditioning theory, although to cue exposure and the extinction of “peak experiences” rather than to aversion therapy.

Type
Research Article
Information
Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy , Volume 15 , Issue 2 , April 1987 , pp. 111 - 122
Copyright
Copyright © British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 1987

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