Best Possible Odds: Contemporary Treatment Strategies for Gambling Disorders

Rating:
Summary: This is a superb book whose time is long overdue.
Review: Gambling is one of the most rapdily spreading forms of addiction. In response, the biomedical addictions establishment has responded in its typical fashion of first denial, then quick evaluation whether these "new" patients can make the practitioner more financially comforable. Following this comes the inevitable third generation of turf squabbles, where various segments of the addictions and other interested communities attempt to cut themselves the largest portion of pie they can.

McCown & Chamberlain are brutally honest with this grim reality, as they are equally blunt regarding the multi impediments anyone with a gambling problem faces. While their review of the literature is not academically pedantic, it is sufficient to cause the run-of-the-mill clinician or even parent to give serious consideration to the idea that gambling may be the crack of the next quarter century.

However, these authors are not pessimists! Nor are they idealogues with a turf to defend. Instead they insist that only a unified campaign from the biological, behavioral, and social sciences will help those whose gambling has crossed the line from harmless hobby to life threatening addictions.

These authors argue from a morally neutral tone-despite having witnessed the horror of gambling disorders first hand. They admit that a major limitation of the effort is the mental health community has committed so resources into treatment that we lag behind progress made in other fields of addiction be a half century or more. McCown & Chamberlain are not afraid to attempt to experiment and to admit failures. They are open when they are stymied by our social policy and lack of treatment technology. Yet in the best spirit of scientist/clinicians they have faith that progress is always possible and site just enough science to make the reader convinced.

In addition to the above, their outstanding case studies, sensitivities to women and minorities, scientific ecclecticism and almost missionary sense of calling the scientific community to arms makes this book most readable.

Finally, their continued explorations into addictions as nonlinear constructs, often with a family sytstemic root, remains one of this books most fascinating hypotheses. We can only hope that these researcher scratch time somewhere to continue practicing both good science and good clinical practice.