Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-05T09:39:00.543Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Controlled Comparison of Aversive Therapy and Imaginal Desensitization in Compulsive Gambling

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Nathaniel McConaghy ,
Michael S. Armstrong ,
Alex Blaszczynski  and
Clive Allcock
Nathaniel McConaghy
Affiliation:
School of Psychiatry, University of N.S.W., Kensington, Australia, 2033
Michael S. Armstrong
Affiliation:
School of Psychiatry, University of N.S.W., Kensington, Australia, 2033
Alex Blaszczynski
Affiliation:
Division of Behaviour Therapy, Prince of Wales Hospital, Randwick, Australia
Clive Allcock
Affiliation:
Parramatta Psychiatric Centre, North Parramatta, Australia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Twenty compulsive gamblers were randomly allocated, half to receive aversion-relief therapy and half to receive imaginal desensitization; both groups were followed-up for one year. Compared with those who received aversion-relief, gamblers who received imaginal desensitization reported a significantly greater reduction of gambling urge and behaviour; they also showed a significant reduction in trait anxiety at one year and in state anxiety at one month and one year following treatment. A high level of state anxiety at one month following treatment predicted failure to respond to treatment at one year in the subjects who received imaginal desensitization, but not in those who received aversion-relief. The relationship between reduction in anxiety and in gambling urge in response to imaginal desensitization was predicted from the theory that compulsive gambling is driven by aversive tension.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 142 , Issue 4 , April 1983 , pp. 366 - 372
Copyright
Copyright © 1983 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anokhin, P.K. (1955) Characteristics of the afferent apparatus of a conditioned reflex and its importance for psychology. Problems of Psychology, 6, 16–38.Google Scholar
Bancroft, J. (1970) A comparative study of aversion and desensitization in the treatment of homosexuality. In Behaviour Therapy in the 1970's (eds. Burns, L. E. and Worsley, J. L.). Bristol: John Wright.Google Scholar
Bancroft, J. (1971) Application of psychophysiological measures to the assessment and modification of sexual behaviour. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 9, 119–30.Google Scholar
Barker, J. C. & Miller, M. (1966) Aversion therapy for compulsive gambling. Lancet, i, 491–2.Google Scholar
Barker, J. C. (1968) Aversion therapy for compulsive gambling. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 146, 285–302.Google Scholar
Bergin, A. E. (1969) A self-regulation technique for impulse control disorders. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 6, 113–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Birk, L., Huddleston, W., Miller, E. & Cohler, B. (1971) Avoidance conditioning for homosexuality. Archives of General Psychiatry, 25, 314–23.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blakey, R. & Baker, R. (1980) An exposure approach to alcohol abuse. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 18, 319–25.Google Scholar
Feldman, M. P. & MacCulloch, M. J. (1971) Homosexual Behaviour: Therapy and Assessment. Oxford: Pergamon.Google Scholar
Goorney, A. B. (1968) Treatment of a compulsive horse race gambler by aversion therapy. British Journal of Psychiatry, 114, 329–33.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Koller, K. M. (1972) Treatment of poker-machine addicts by aversion therapy. Medical Journal of Australia, 1, 742–5.Google Scholar
Marks, I. M. (1976) Management of sexual disorders. In Handbook of Behaviour Modification and Behaviour Therapy, (ed. Leitenberg, H.). New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
McConaghy, N. (1969) Subjective and penile plethysmograph responses following aversion-relief and apomorphine aversion therapy for homosexual impulses. British Journal of Psychiatry, 115, 723–30.Google Scholar
McConaghy, N. (1970) Subjective and penile plethysmograph responses to aversion therapy for homosexuality: A follow-up study. British Journal of Psychiatry, 117, 555–60.Google Scholar
McConaghy, N. (1975) Aversive and positive conditioning treatments of homosexuality. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 13, 309–19.Google Scholar
McConaghy, N. (1976) Is a homosexual orientation irreversible? British Journal of Psychiatry, 129, 556–63.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McConaghy, N. (1977) Behavioral treatment in homosexuality. In Progress in Behaviour Modification. (eds. Herson, M., Eisler, R. M. and Miller, P. M.). New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
McConaghy, N. (1980) Behavior completion mechanisms rather than primary drives maintain behavioural patterns. Activitas Nervosa Superior (Praha), 22, 138–51.Google Scholar
McConaghy, N. (1982) Sexual Deviation. In International Handbook of Behaviour Modification and Therapy. (eds. Bellack, A. S., Kazdin, A. E. and Hersen, M.). New York: Plenum Press.Google Scholar
McConaghy, N., Armstrong, M. S. & Blaszczynski, A. (1981) Controlled comparison of aversion therapy and covert sensitization in compulsive homosexuality. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 19, 425–34.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McConaghy, N. & Barr, R. F. (1973) Classical, avoidance and backward conditioning treatments of homosexuality. British Journal of Psychiatry, 122, 151–62.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McConaghy, N., Proctor, D. & Barr, R. (1972) Subjective and penile plethysmography responses to aversion therapy for homosexuality: A partial replication. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 2, 65–78.Google Scholar
Pavlov, I. P. (1927) Conditioned reflexes. (ed. Anrep, C. V.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Seager, C. P. (1970) Treatment of compulsive gamblers by electrical aversion. British Journal of Psychiatry, 117, 545–53.Google Scholar
Seager, C. P., Pokorny, M. R. & Black, D. (1966) Aversion therapy for compulsive gambling. Lancet, i, 546.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snaith, R. P. & Collins, S. A. (1981) Five exhibitionists and a method of treatment. British Journal of Psychiatry, 138, 126–30.Google Scholar
Thorpe, J. G., Schmidt, E., Brown, P. T. & Castell, D. (1964) Aversion-relief therapy: a new method for general application. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 2, 71–82.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wray, I. & Dickerson, M. G. (1981) Cessation of high frequency gambling and “withdrawal” symptoms. British Journal of Addiction, 76, 401–5.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.