Gambling can begin as entertainment, excitement, social activity or an attempt to earn money. For some people, however, gambling gradually becomes increasingly difficult to control and begins to affect finances, relationships, work, emotional well-being and everyday life.
I provide psychotherapy for gambling disorder and problematic gambling in Yerevan, using a structured approach primarily based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT).
My work focuses on understanding the mechanisms that maintain gambling behaviour and developing practical strategies for interrupting these mechanisms, reducing gambling, preventing relapse and rebuilding control over everyday life.
When gambling becomes a psychological problem
The severity of a gambling problem is not determined solely by how frequently someone gambles or how much money they lose.
More important questions include:
- Is it becoming increasingly difficult to stop?
- Do you repeatedly gamble longer or spend more than you originally intended?
- Do you return to gambling in an attempt to recover losses?
- Do you think about gambling when you are not playing?
- Do strong urges make it difficult to follow decisions you have made?
- Do you conceal the extent of gambling from people close to you?
- Has gambling caused financial, relational or professional consequences?
- Do you repeatedly promise yourself that you will stop, only to return to gambling?
- Do stress, boredom, loneliness, anger or other emotional states trigger gambling?
- Has gambling become an important way of escaping unpleasant thoughts or emotions?
When gambling becomes increasingly difficult to control despite negative consequences, professional assessment and treatment may be appropriate.
Understanding the gambling cycle
Problematic gambling is rarely maintained by one single factor.
A typical cycle may involve:
trigger → anticipation and urge → gambling → excitement or temporary emotional relief → wins or losses → further gambling or chasing losses → negative consequences → stress, guilt or frustration → renewed urge to gamble
Over time, this cycle can become increasingly automatic.
Gambling can be reinforced not only by winning. The anticipation of a possible reward, near wins, uncertainty, emotional arousal and temporary escape from unpleasant states may all contribute to maintaining the behaviour.
For this reason, effective psychotherapy requires more than simply telling a person to “stop gambling.”
The mechanisms that repeatedly bring the person back to gambling need to be identified and changed.
Cognitive distortions in gambling
Gambling is frequently accompanied by characteristic errors in probability estimation and decision-making.
These may include:
- believing that a win is “due” after a sequence of losses;
- interpreting a near win as evidence that success is getting closer;
- overestimating one’s ability to predict or control random outcomes;
- selectively remembering wins while minimizing losses;
- believing that a particular strategy can reliably overcome chance;
- interpreting previous investments or losses as a reason to continue;
- believing that one large win will solve the consequences created by gambling;
- treating gambling as the fastest way to recover previous losses.
One of the important components of CBT is learning to recognize and critically examine these patterns.
The purpose is not merely to know intellectually that gambling is based on probability. The goal is to understand how these beliefs influence decisions at the moment when the urge to gamble appears.
Chasing losses
One of the most destructive processes in problematic gambling is chasing losses.
After losing money, the person may experience a strong need to continue gambling in order to “get back to zero.”
The previous loss then changes the psychological meaning of the next bet: gambling is no longer experienced simply as entertainment but as an attempt to repair the damage created by previous gambling.
This may lead to progressively larger risks and further losses.
An important therapeutic task is therefore learning to treat money already lost as a completed event rather than as a problem that must be solved through additional gambling.
How I work with gambling disorder
My therapeutic approach is primarily based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and individualized case formulation.
Depending on the situation, treatment may include the following components.
Assessment and case formulation
We begin by examining:
- the history and development of gambling;
- types of gambling and betting involved;
- frequency, duration and financial consequences;
- triggers and high-risk situations;
- emotional states associated with gambling;
- thoughts and beliefs that precede gambling;
- patterns of wins, losses and chasing;
- attempts to stop or control gambling;
- access to money and gambling platforms;
- consequences for relationships, work and daily functioning.
The aim is to understand the individual system that maintains the behaviour.
Identifying triggers
A gambling episode often begins before the first bet is actually placed.
Triggers may include:
- receiving money;
- advertisements or sports events;
- being alone;
- boredom;
- alcohol use;
- stress;
- interpersonal conflict;
- frustration;
- previous losses;
- winning;
- particular places, applications or websites;
- thoughts about financial problems.
Recognizing these triggers makes it possible to intervene earlier in the gambling cycle.
Managing urges to gamble
An urge is not the same thing as an action.
Therapy involves learning to recognize urges, understand how they develop and decline, delay behavioural responses, and reduce automatic transitions from an urge to gambling.
The goal is not to expect that gambling-related thoughts will disappear immediately, but to develop the ability to experience them without automatically acting on them.
Changing access and gambling behaviour
Psychological work is considerably more difficult when gambling remains immediately available.
Depending on the individual situation, treatment may therefore involve practical measures such as:
- closing or restricting gambling accounts;
- self-exclusion where available;
- removing gambling applications;
- limiting immediate access to gambling funds;
- changing payment arrangements;
- reducing exposure to gambling-related cues;
- developing clear financial boundaries.
These measures are not a substitute for psychotherapy. They create conditions in which psychological change becomes more achievable.
Cognitive restructuring
We identify beliefs that support continued gambling and evaluate them using probability, evidence and actual gambling history.
The aim is to replace intuitive, emotionally driven reasoning with more accurate decision-making.
Building alternative patterns of behaviour
If gambling has become a major source of excitement, stimulation, escape or emotional regulation, simply removing it can leave a significant behavioural gap.
Therapy therefore also focuses on rebuilding routines, activities, sources of reinforcement and ways of responding to stress that do not depend on gambling.
Relapse prevention
A return to gambling after a period of abstinence does not have to mean that all previous progress has been lost.
An important part of treatment is learning to identify high-risk situations and early warning signs before a lapse develops into a sustained return to problematic gambling.
A relapse-prevention plan may include:
triggers → warning signs → immediate actions → access restrictions → support → review of the episode → return to the treatment plan
Gambling, reward and the brain
One of my particular professional and research interests is the neurobiology of gambling disorder.
My work in this area examines gambling through mechanisms including reward-system dysregulation, dopaminergic processes, reinforcement learning and cognitive distortions that maintain maladaptive gambling behaviour.
From this perspective, gambling disorder cannot be reduced simply to a lack of willpower.
Repeated gambling involves learning processes in which cues, anticipation, uncertainty, emotional arousal and reward become strongly associated with gambling behaviour.
Understanding these mechanisms can help explain why a person may genuinely intend to stop and nevertheless experience powerful urges to return to gambling.
At the same time, understanding the brain is not sufficient by itself. Psychotherapy aims to create new learning through changes in cognition, behaviour and the person’s environment.
Family and relationships
Gambling problems rarely affect only the person who gambles.
Partners and family members may experience:
- financial uncertainty;
- loss of trust;
- repeated promises followed by renewed gambling;
- secrecy;
- conflict;
- attempts to monitor or control gambling;
- uncertainty about whether and how to provide financial help.
Where appropriate, these interpersonal and practical issues may also be addressed as part of the treatment process.
Helping someone with gambling problems does not necessarily mean paying gambling debts or repeatedly rescuing the person from the consequences of gambling.
Clear boundaries can become an important part of recovery.
What happens during the first session?
The first session is primarily devoted to assessment.
We discuss:
- the current pattern of gambling;
- its history and development;
- financial and psychological consequences;
- gambling triggers;
- previous attempts to stop;
- the role gambling currently plays in your life;
- current access to gambling and money;
- other psychological difficulties that may be relevant;
- your goals for treatment.
Based on this information, we develop an initial case formulation and determine an appropriate treatment strategy.
My professional work with gambling disorder
Psychotherapy for pathological and problematic gambling has been one of my long-standing clinical and research interests.
I have developed and published CBT-based materials for gambling problems, including “Pathological Gambling: A Psychotherapist’s Guide,” “Pathological Gambling: A Workbook,” “Gambling: How to Overcome,” and the more recent “Win Without Playing: A Guide to Overcoming Problem Gambling.” My program incorporates structured assessment and a CBT-based approach to overcoming problematic gambling.
I have also co-authored research on the clinical application of cognitive therapy for pathological gambling and teach professionals about the neurobiological foundations, assessment and psychotherapy of gambling disorder.
I am a psychologist and psychotherapist holding the European Certificate of Psychotherapy (ECP). My broader clinical work is primarily grounded in CBT and evidence-based integrative approaches.
Gambling disorder therapy in Yerevan and online
Sessions are available: In person in Yerevan and Online
Working languages: Armenian · English · Russian · Polish
Schedule a consultation
If gambling or betting has become increasingly difficult to control, or repeated attempts to stop have not produced lasting change, you can schedule an initial consultation to assess the problem and discuss an appropriate treatment strategy.