Addicts are definitely one of the most difficult clienteles to work with as most of them have been relying on their addictive habits to survive or to satisfy their psychological needs for many years. They often lack motivations to quit their addiction and are usually unaware of their underlying psycho-pathological motivations. From my experiences, most of the problem/pathological gamblers are resistant to counselling until they are deeply in debt, have suffered too much from his/her gambling behavior or started being aware of his/her unknown psycho-pathological issues.

Many gamblers or their families have unrealistic expectations toward psychological counselling. We often find that hey expect counsellor would provide them with a formula to deal with their gambling addiction or some even believe they can stop gambling immediately after a counselling session. Of course, this is a total misunderstanding about both gambling and counselling. From my clinical experiences, gambling behavior/addiction is always a presenting problem and often serves as a functional means to get the underlying psychological needs satisfied or fulfilled. For instance, gamble to fulfill his controlling needs.

So, how does psychological counselling work for gamblers? Psychological counselling is indeed a self-realizing process in which counsellor would assist clients to explore and look honestly at themselves, such as their inner unresolved needs and issues, struggles, motives, etc, and aim at helping clients get fully aware of who he/she is. Since it’s a self-knowing process and hence its effectiveness depends on clients’ motivation, courage to identify and work through their personal issues which might have been disturbing himself or herself, and that counsellor is the travelling partner in such a journey.

It’s indeed a pleasure and an honor to accompany anyone who is in need. I heartily encourage those who have been suffering from gambling or addiction problems to seek assistance from professional counsellors or psychologists, to courageously start a challenging, difficult but rewarding and meaningful life journey with them so as to get your personal issues resolved and rebuild your life in a healthy way.