Gambling addiction treatment

On admission, our medical and therapeutic team gathers information from your GP, any previous counsellors and, where explicitly agreed, your family members. A consultant psychiatrist then carries out a full clinical evaluation. This looks at your gambling history, any mental health conditions, substance use, physical health, and the practical pressures you are living with 

From there, we build a personalised treatment plan that sets out the therapies you will engage with, the structure of your week, and how progress will be reviewed.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is one of the first-line psychological treatments for gambling disorder. CBT reduces gambling frequency, the amount of money gambled, and disorder severity, with effects larger than those of medication alone. Between 65% and 82% of people receiving CBT show greater reductions in gambling outcomes.

The UK’s NICE guideline on gambling-related harms (NG248) recommends group CBT as the first offer. Individual CBT is available if group therapy is not suitable. Both are delivered as a structured course, typically six to 10 sessions, including specific work on relapse prevention.

Alongside CBT, our programme uses:

• Individual therapy, where you work one-to-one with a personal counsellor on what’s specific to your situation
• Group therapy, including peer support and 12 Step work, which NICE recognises as a meaningful part of treatment for many people
• Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), where emotional regulation, distress tolerance, and impulse control are part of the clinical picture
• Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR), where trauma is part of what sits underneath the gambling
• Family therapy, where appropriate, to begin repairing the relationships gambling has affected
• Motivational interviewing, particularly useful early in treatment when commitment to change is still forming
• Pharmacological options where clinically indicated. NICE recommends naltrexone as a consideration where psychological therapy alone has not achieved the desired outcome

Alongside core clinical work, our inpatient programmes offer complementary therapies that support recovery in different ways. These might include art therapy, equine and animal-assisted therapy, yoga and meditation, mindfulness practice, and acupuncture. The aim is to give you more than one way into the work, and more than one tool to take with you when you leave.

Treatment starts with a full clinical assessment. This looks at:

• How often you gamble, what you gamble on, and how much you have lost
• Your physical and mental health, including any co-occurring conditions
• Any past treatment, including therapy or 12 Step involvement
• Current risks, including debt, work pressures, and risk to yourself

The assessment helps our consultant psychiatrist decide whether inpatient care, outpatient support, or online therapy will be most effective for you. It also gives you the space to ask questions and understand what treatment might involve before you make a decision.

The first phase of treatment focuses on stepping away from gambling triggers, putting practical controls in place around money and access, and beginning therapeutic work on the patterns that have made the behaviour hard to stop.

For many people, the relief of not being on a phone or app for several days is itself part of how treatment works. The clinical team is alongside you for this period, particularly if anxiety, low mood, or harmful thoughts are part of the picture.

Therapy is where the deeper work happens. Rather than just managing urges to gamble, approaches like Cognitive Behavioural Therapy help you develop ways of responding to difficult emotions, financial pressures, and habitual triggers without turning to gambling. Sessions can be one-to-one, in groups, or a combination of both. They are run through inpatient, outpatient, and online care.

Where trauma, emotional regulation difficulties, or co-occurring mental health conditions are part of the picture, the therapeutic plan adapts. DBT, EMDR, and trauma-informed therapy may all sit alongside CBT depending on your assessment.

Leaving treatment is its own transition. Returning to phones, apps, advertising, and the everyday financial pressures that gambling was often used to escape takes adjustment. Aftercare is how we stay with you.

This might be regular check-ins with a therapist, working through your relapse prevention plan, or peer support such as Gamblers Anonymous. The goal is the same: making sure the progress you have made holds when life gets difficult.

To get into rehab for gambling addiction, you can contact your GP to request a referral, or contact a private provider like Castle Health directly. We’re often able to admit patients to our inpatient programmes within a few days of initial enquiry, subject to assessment. Our admissions team will walk you through the process and explain what to expect at each step.

Yes, rehab can work for gambling addiction. We’ll support you to create a treatment plan based on your specific circumstances. This may involve inpatient or outpatient support, dual-diagnosis care, and a range of evidence-based therapies including CBT. We also provide aftercare support once the main programme ends. While rehab isn’t a guarantee of recovery, it’s an important first step for many people with gambling disorder.

Yes. Our admissions team can talk you through funding options and what is practical for your situation. The presence of debt is not a barrier to making contact.

It depends on your assessment. Inpatient programmes typically run from four to 12 weeks, with continuing aftercare beyond that. CBT is usually delivered over six to 10 sessions per the NICE guideline. We will give you a realistic timeline at the assessment stage.

Some health insurance policies cover residential and outpatient treatment for gambling disorder, but cover varies significantly. Our admissions team can help you check what your policy includes before you make any decisions.

Problem gambling is a broad term covering gambling that is causing harm in some part of your life. Gambling addiction, or gambling disorder, is the clinical diagnosis applied when specific criteria are met over a 12-month period. Treatment is available across the spectrum, and you do not need a formal diagnosis to make contact.