This document discusses how exploring and addressing emotions is a core competency in problem gambling treatment, especially when working with families. It provides several strategies for working with emotions, such as helping clients identify emotions that trigger urges to gamble, connecting emotions to gambling behaviors, encouraging open communication of feelings between family members, and helping clients develop healthier relationships with difficult emotions. The document emphasizes that emotional attunement within relationships can motivate change, increase relational alliance, and provide alternatives to acting out through gambling. It also discusses how power dynamics, relational injuries, and meeting emotional needs impact relationships and emotions.

1. Families and Problem
Gambling Treatment:
Advanced Call
May, 2018
Teresa McDowell, Ed.D., LMFT

3. Exploring Emotion in Treatment
 Many problem gambling counselors explore
emotion with clients. Why?
 How is identifying emotion helpful to recovery?
 Why do we often encourage expression of
emotion?

4. Addressing Emotion as a Core Competency –
Application to Family Work
1. Help individuals identify emotions that trigger gambling
urges.
2. Connect pleasure and/or suffering to gambling.
3. Encourage individuals communicate feelings directly to
family and important others.
4. Encourage individuals to attune to feelings of important
others/disengage from being overly attuned to other’s
feelings.
5. Help individuals develop a different relationship with
feelings that typically trigger gambling urges.

5. Help individuals identify emotions that
trigger gambling urges.
Relational dynamics and patterns that lead to
uncomfortable/seemingly intolerable feelings
• Conflict patterns
• Relational power and oppression
• Loneliness & Isolation
• Relationship injuries
• Unmet needs

6. Connect pleasure and/or
suffering to gambling.
 Focus is not on helping clients feel better via
empathy.
 Emotional attunement is necessary to help clients
feel understood but is not an end in and of itself.
 It is important to connect emotions of all involved
to gambling to motivate change and move toward
eliminating source of suffering when possible.

7. Encourage individuals communicate feelings
directly to family and important others.
 It is more important for important others/families to
be able to hear, acknowledge and attune to feelings
than counselor alone.
 Learning to share emotion can be a powerful
alternative to acting (gambling) out emotional
distress.
 Increases within family alliance and ability to face
gambling together.
 Highlights real consequences of gambling.

8. Power and Emotion
• Those with less power tend to be more
• emotionally aware of those with more power
• Emotional reactions rely in part on power dynamics in
relationship
• Not getting what one can create negative emotions
• Getting more than what one feels they deserve can create
positive emotions
• Emotions and relational influence

9. Encourage individuals to attune to feelings of
important others/disengage from being
overly attuned to other’s feelings.
 Those who gamble often become self-centered and
isolated – attuning to others provides pathway to
connection and relational accountability.
 Overly attuning to other’s feelings can prohibit setting
boundaries that might challenge/restrict impact of other’s
gambling
 Attunement is integral
to accepting influence.

10. Help individuals develop a different
relationship with feelings that typically
trigger gambling urges.
Pacing emotion in trauma work – building confidence.
Slowing things down when emotion feels intense.
Expressing emotion to attuned other.
Allowing emotion and thoughts to pass – ACT
Engaging in mindfulness.

11. Relational Work and Emotion
 Less emotion is required in attempts to influence when
attunement is present.
 Resolving underlying relational injuries and repetitive
problems encourages more positive emotion.
 Equity in relationships promotes more positive emotion.
 Expressing emotion and being understood challenges
automatic behavioral attempts to mask emotion.
 Ability to express emotion and feel understood increases
relational alliance.

12. Discussion