An Interview on Problem Gambling Prevention

[Frank Kneeland]

lets face it its all about the money I assume by "its" you are referring to the psychological communities work on problem gambling.You're reminding me of one of my favorite jokes which is: Sweeping generalizations are always wrong.And of course this statement itself is false, which is why it's funny. One can fix it easily with the inclusion of "almost always", but then of course it wouldn't be funny.What concerns me about your statements is that if someone that needs help is reading them, it may cause them to doubt the efficacy of seeking help based on the motives of the helpers. It shouldn't. It really shouldn't!We live in a capitalistic society where everything has a profit motive on some level. Even the most caring, empathic and altruistic people have to live and support themselves. You could scarcely expect doctors to impoverish themselves by paying for college and then live on the streets as homeless people giving away their services for free. Ask yourself if you'd go to a doctor who's office was a cardboard box under a freeway overpass. Probably not!But capitalism has its benefits and checks and balances built in.First off, treatments have to work. People will not pay for things that don't work. No one is going to buy a car that doesn't get them from point A to point B, same goes for psychological advice.Second, people will not pay more for the same service when they can pay less. So doctors and psychologists can't simply charge anything they want for services or another doctor will undercut them and get all the business.The scientists that got paid to do research into problem gambling only got paid to do it if their studies and evidence proved to be correct, keeping in mind that it would be peer reviewed by other scientists seeking to make money and discredit their work. Certainly everyone in the process had & has a profit motive, but here that profit motive works to increase the quality of the information and the veracity of the research. You can't make it as a highly paid scientist if you publish un-scientific material. Your profit mongering peers would cut you to shreds.The proof is in the pudding: Problem gambling treatment success rates have seen a ten-fold increase in the last decade...and this comes from polling people that have gone through the current treatments...not from the doctors themselves.For the first time in the history of the human race problem gambling has become treatable. I wouldn't worry too much about why this is or the motives of the people responsible for coming up with the new treatments, because the only thing that will do is hurt the healing process and undermine people seeking treatment.Seriously if you are going to start avoiding things with a profit motive in America you would never be able to leave your house again. Your car, the gas in it, the highways on which it drives and all the destinations to which it could travel all have profit motives. Oh and the house or apartment you're living in as well. Guess you couldn't stay home either.Treatment for problem gambling is now available that works! (and that's big news)Stop worrying about why? It has no bearing on it working.Oh and keep in mind that in most states problem gambling treatment is free, even if the people doing it are getting paid. The profit motive you are so worried about is motivating people to do their job, which in this case means better helping more people.P.S. I don't know if this matters to you, but I donated my time to interview Dr. McCown, and he donated his time as well to answer the questions. The BJI, which is normally a paid service, posted both parts of the interview as their lead free-article, so that the information would be available to all for free, not just their paid subscribers. Also Dr. McCown is certainly not trying to sell any books to problem gamblers, if you didn't already know, his books are for other doctors and clinicians and not written for patients.