Abstract

Pathological gambling (PG) is characterized by persistent non-adaptive gambling and the disorder is classified as an impulse control disorder in DSM-IV. Despite of negative consequences, they can't resist to urge to gamble. In real clinical situation, environmental stress is an important precipitating factor but there are just a little direct research data about stress and PG. There are two types of PG, action gambler and escape gambler. Hyperarousal and hypoarousal state are related with these types. Therapist have to deal with stress of PG patients as well as their family members to prevent recurrence. The author discussed how to deal with PG patients and their family members, focused on stress problems in clinical situation. (Korean J Str Res 2005;13:73∼76)

• Keywords: Gambling, Stress