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Staying in Action: The Pathological Gambler's Equivalent of the Dry Drunk

This course will soon be retired. When it is retired, it will no longer be available. This course will be retired in 65 days.

To complete this course for credit, your exam must be successfully completed by Nov 29th, 2023.

This course was updated 25 days ago. If you're about to take the exam, you may benefit from reviewing the exam questions listed below before starting on the actual exam.

This is a classic course. Addiction Counselor CE retains a small number of "Classic Courses". These courses are based on materials that have an older publication date, but that retain enduring learning value and relevance today. We can recommend this course as valuable, but if you are looking for more recent material you might wish to choose a different one.

About the Course:

Alcoholics Anonymous refers to the alcoholic who has stopped drinking, but who still demonstrates alcoholic attitudes and behaviors, as a “dry drunk.” Such individuals are said to have abstinence but not sobriety and are considered at risk for relapse. Although the concept of the dry drunk has been adopted by other self-help programs, “staying in action” is an equivalent and arguably more meaningful expression to use for the understanding and treatment of many pathological gamblers. The author discusses covert gambling, mind bets, switching and fusing of addictions, procrastination, risk-taking, and power games; a repertoire of ways in which the individual can remain in a gambling mind-set while technically abstinent. This is a clinical paper, based on the author’s experience, especially in treating the more traditional, action-seeking gamblers.

This course is based on the reading-based online article, Staying in Action: The Pathological Gambler’s Equivalent of the Dry Drunk created by Dr. Richard J. Rosenthal in 2005.

Journal/Publisher:

Journal of Gambling Issues

Publication Date:

March 2005, Issue 13

Course Material Author

Dr. Richard J. Rosenthal
Richard J. Rosenthal, M.D., is co-director of the UCLA Gambling Studies Program. He co-authored the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria, was co-investigator on the first genetic study of gamblers, and has published articles and book chapters on the phenomenology of pathological gambling, its course, complications, and treatment. Dr. Rosenthal was a member of the National Academy of Science's Committee on the Social and Economic Impact of Pathological Gambling. He is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, and in 2004 the National Council on Problem Gambling presented him with their Robert Custer Award.

Dr. Richard J. Rosenthal authored the material only, and was not involved in creating this CE course. They are identified here for your own evaluation of the relevancy of the material this course is based on.

Course Creator

Keith Gibson, Ph.D.
Dr. Gibson is a Clinical Psychologist with over 30 years in research, clinical and consulting practice. He has also held leadership roles in research administration and program evaluation and more recently has specialized in program evaluation and system analysis. He draws upon his years of expertise as a practicing psychologist, administrator, researcher and technologist to help universities evaluate their programs to implement, meet, and maintain CACREP standards.

Recommended For:

This course is recommended for health care professionals, especially addiction counselors, psychologists, mental health counselors, social workers, and nurses who seek knowledge about the pathological gambler's equivalent of the dry drunk. It is appropriate for all levels of participants' knowledge.

Course Objectives:

After taking this course, you should be able to:

  1. Define the concept of "dry drunk" as it applies to pathological gamblers.
  2. Identify symptom substitutions and behavioral equivalents for recovering gamblers who are no longer actively gambling.
  3. Explain the concepts of lying, cheating, stealing, and flooding as they relate to recovering pathological gamblers.
  4. Discuss the recovering gambler's challenges with boredom, commitment, success, and reality.

Disclosures

Disclosure of Relevant Financial Relationships

Disclosure of Relevant Financial Relationships

CE Learning Systems, LLC is an independent provider of continuing medical education. CE Learning Systems, LLC has no proprietary or financial interest in medical or healthcare products over which the FDA (USA) or EMA (EU) has regulatory authority.

In accordance with our disclosure policies, CE Learning Systems, LLC is committed to ensuring balance, independence, objectivity, and scientific rigor for all accredited continuing education. These policies include assigning relevance to, and mitigating, all perceived or real conflicts of interest between any individual with control over the content and any ineligible company (commercial interest).

Any individual with control over accredited content, including planner, faculty, and reviewer, is required to globally disclose:

  1. Individual relationship(s) or lack thereof, and its nature, with any/all ineligible company, and
  2. any investigational, off-label, or non-FDA approved content or discussion

CE Learning Systems, LLC has reviewed these disclosures, assigned relevance based on the relationship and scope of content, and identified those with the potential to compromise the goals and educational integrity of the education. Relevant relationships, or lack thereof, are shared with the learner.

Education has been independently peer-reviewed to validate content, mitigate identified conflicts of interest, and ensure:

  1. All recommendations involving clinical medicine is based on evidence that is accepted within the medical profession as adequate justification for their indications and contraindications in the care of patients.
  2. All scientific research referred to, reported, or used in accredited continuing education in support or justification of a patient care recommendation conforms to the generally accepted standards of experimental design, data collection, and analysis.
  3. Content is appropriate, fair and balanced, unbiased, referenced, and non-promotional.
Planners

The planners have reported the following: There are no relevant disclosures.

Course Material Author

The authors have disclosed any disclosures within the material.

Course Creator: Keith Gibson, Ph.D.
There are no relevant disclosures.
Commercial support

There is no commercial support for this distance-learning course.

Exam Questions

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Course Number 101426
2 CE credit hours
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  • Reading-Based Online
Exam Fee $11.94
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