Class Description
Why are certain individuals driven by an intense need for risk, competition, and high stimulus, and what happens when those same traits are channeled into gambling? In this workshop, former amateur athlete and certified gambling counselor Elizabeth Thielen explores how an individual’s core strengths and psychological vulnerabilities can interact to both fuel gambling disorder and support sustainable recovery.
Rather than serving solely as a personal narrative, this session will weave key milestones from Elizabeth’s lived experience as a former athlete and a person in long-term recovery into the clinical literature. Together, we will examine how traits like competitive drive, high sensation-seeking, and resilience can work against a client in active addiction, yet become valuable assets when redirected effectively. We will also examine additional psychological and environmental factors that can complicate the progression of gambling disorder and shape the path toward lasting recovery.
Learning Objectives
- Identify at least three psychological traits associated with competitive athletics that may contribute to gambling-related risk, including sensation-seeking, competitiveness, and impulsivity
- Describe at least three developmental, psychological, or environmental factors that may contribute to the onset or progression of gambling disorder
- Explain two ways athletic identity, illusion of control, superstitious beliefs, or difficulty tolerating losses may reinforce problematic gambling behaviors
- Identify two clinical assessment tools or approaches that can help clinicians evaluate gambling motivations, psychological vulnerabilities, and individual treatment needs
- Describe at least three strengths-based strategies clinicians can use to redirect maladaptive traits toward healthier coping behaviors and sustainable gambling recovery
Educational Goals
- Increase understanding of how competitive drive, sensation-seeking, impulsivity, and athletic identity may influence vulnerability to gambling disorder
- Explore how adverse childhood experiences, early gambling exposure, environmental influences, and significant life transitions may contribute to the development and progression of gambling-related problems
- Examine how psychological characteristics that are adaptive in competitive athletics may become maladaptive when expressed through gambling behaviors.
- Enhance clinicians' understanding of how personal strengths, resilience, and individual experiences can be incorporated into gambling disorder treatment and recovery planning
- Promote individualized, strengths-based clinical approaches that address gambling-related vulnerabilities while supporting sustainable recovery
Outline
- Introduction and Clinical Framework: 5 minutes
- Early Experiences and Gambling Vulnerability: 15 minutes
- Athletic Identity and Psychological Resilience: 10 minutes
- Life Transitions and Escalation of Gambling Harm: 10 minutes
- When Adaptive Traits Become Maladaptive: 25 minutes
- Clinical Assessment and Strengths-Based Recovery: 15 minutes
- Clinical Application, Discussion, and Q&A: 10 minutes