Dr. Eric Geffner's Individual Outpatient Gambling Treatment Program

Welcome

Since 1998 I have been providing gambling addiction treatment and general outpatient therapy for gambling related problems, I hope that this website will assist you in your journey toward recovery from gambling related problems for you or you family/friends who are suffering. I have tried to include some basic information regarding the nature of gambling addiction and related mental health issues and my private practice as well as some ideas about ways to find help if your are not living in the Greater Los Angeles Area.

SPECIAL NOTICE  May/June, 2013  updated

In conjunction with the State of California's Office on Problem Gambling (within the Department of Public Health) which is administered by UCLA's Gambling Studies Program I am able to offer 8 and possibly as many as 16 completely free Gambling addiction specific treatment sessions to anyone who can attend therapy in person in my Westwood Office. This offer is also open to anyone who is involved in a close relationship with a person who is a compulsive gambler.

Please use the Treatment information tab for more information on this special program. It is very easy to qualify for this free program and the gambler only needs to have one of the 10  symptoms listed below qualify.

1. Have there ever been periods lasting 2 weeks or longer
when you spent a lot of time thinking about your gambling
experiences, planning out future gambling ventures, bets,
or thinking about ways of getting money to gamble with?

2. Have there ever been periods when you needed to gamble
increasing amounts of money or place larger bets than before
in order to get the same feeling of excitement?

3. Have you ever felt restless or irritable when trying to stop,
cut down, or control your gambling?

4. Have you ever tried and not succeeded in stopping, cutting
down, or controlling your gambling three or more times in your
life?

5. Have you ever gambled to escape from personal problems or
to relieve uncomfortable feelings such as guilt, anxiety,
helplessness, or depression?

6. Has there ever been a period when, if you lost money gambling one day, you would often return another day to get even?

7. Have you lied to family members, friends, or others about how
much you gamble, and/or about how much money you lost on at
least three occasions?

8. Have you ever written a bad check or taken money that didn’t
belong to you from family members, friends, or anyone else in
order to pay for your gambling?

9. Has your gambling ever caused serious or repeated problems
in your relationships with any of your family members or friends,
or has your gambling ever caused you problems at work or
school?

10. Have you ever needed to ask family members, friends, a lending institution, or anyone else to loan you money or otherwise bail you out of a desperate situation that was largely caused by your gambling?

So, you only need one of these 10 symptoms, most people who come in to see me easily meet that critera.

UPDATE:

I learned in March of this year that my contract to continue participation in the State of California Gambling Services Program has been extended through 2016. 

Some thoughts on my work helping gamblers and their families:

Pathological gambling is a treatable disorder.  Most people can recover from it, although some have to experience cycles of relapse-recovery before they finally stop.  Unfortunately, some patients do not recover, but most can and do.  When I first started to do this work, I would ask patients "do you want to stop or learn to control the gambling?"   I learned the hard way that this was not the right approach and do not work this way anymore.  

Do not worry if you are not feeling like you want to stop or that you can, most people that see me can not imagine never gambling again so we work hard to find gentle ways of making changes so that it is possible to be very happy without gambling.

I feel blessed to have found a line of work that I love.  I enjoy my work and feel grateful every time a patient invites me into their lives.   I look forward to hearing from you soon.I have a wide range of understanding about psychological problems and can work with issues beyond the gambling problem once that is stabilized.


 Thank you for stopping by,

Eric Geffner, Ph.D., CCGC
California State Licensed Clinical Psychologist, PSY15581
California Certified Compulsive Gambling Counselor, CCGC #105
Nationally Certified Problem Gambling Counselor #502

Updated May 2013

Email: drgeff at yahoo dot com  ( I had to spell out some words due to bots fishing for my email to use to sent out spam in my name.