NCT03493399

Testing Interference-based Methods to Mitigate Gambling Craving - A Multiple Single Case Design

Status unknown NA Last updated 28 June 2019

What this trial tests

NA trial testing Interference in Gambling Disorder in 7 participants. Status unknown.

Timeline

1 July 2019

Primary endpoint
30 October 2019

30 October 2019

Quick facts

Lead sponsor	Université Catholique de Louvain
Phase	NA
Status	Status unknown
Study type	INTERVENTIONAL
Design	sequential
Masking	none
Primary purpose	treatment
Enrollment	7
Start date	1 July 2019
Primary completion	30 October 2019
Estimated completion	30 October 2019
Sites	1 location across Switzerland

Drugs / interventions tested

• Interference

Conditions studied

• Gambling Disorder — all drugs for Gambling Disorder →
• Gambling, Pathological — all drugs for Gambling, Pathological →
• Craving — all drugs for Craving →
• Gambling — all drugs for Gambling →

Sponsor

Université Catholique de Louvain — full company profile →

Who can join

18 and older, any sex, with Gambling Disorder or Gambling, Pathological. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.

Sponsor's own description

Gambling craving is involved in the development, maintenance and relapse of gambling disorder. Yet, it lacks research regarding evidence-based interventions available to mitigate craving in patients displaying gambling disorder. The elaborated intrusion theory of desire (EIT) is a cognitive model of craving which offers important avenues for the development of psychological interventions, as it clearly describes the processes at play in craving experiences (e.g., mental imageries, working memory). Recent research evidenced that the elaborated intrusion theory is relevant to account for gambling craving experiences. According to this model, craving (and desire) is the result of an elaboration process where "desires thoughts" (mental images and thoughts), induced by internal (e.g., frustration) and/or external (e.g., advertisement) triggers, require attentional and cognitive resources. The principle of interference-based techniques is to move the resources allocated to the elaboration of intrusive desire thoughts to a competing task (e.g., clay modelling, competitive mental imagery, Tetris) in order to monopolize the resources underlying craving, thus preventing its elaboration and reducing its vividness and overwhelming nature. Several studies have shown the efficacy of such techniques to reduce substance-related craving. Yet, data obtained on clinical samples remain scarce.

Preliminary data have been obtained prior to this application. In order to investigate the relevance of interference-based techniques, an experimental study was conducted in community gamblers. In two conditions (19 gamblers per condition), gambling craving was first induced via a short mental imagery session and a computer-generated gambling simulation task. Then, the experimental group was asked to perform an interference task consisting of creating a vivid mental image of a bunch of keys. The control group completed a task in which they had to pop and count bubble wrap. The analyses revealed that induced craving decreases significantly in both groups. However, participants that are considered problem gamblers showed a greater decrease of their craving in the experimental condition. This previous "proof of principle" study supports that interference-based techniques are potentially promising interventions to reduce craving in problem gambling. It also warrants further research as no data is available in clinical population.

The current project consists in a pilot study aiming to test the efficacy of interference-based techniques in a sample of gambling disorder patients. The investigators decided to adopt a multiple single case design, as this methodology is ideal in the sense that it helps to understand the whole process of an interference-based intervention among a small number (10) of outpatients with a gambling disorder, without control group. Ecological Momentary Assessment will be used to allow intervention no naturally occuring craving. In addition to be easily implementable in a clinical design, this design will provide sufficient evidences before possibly, in a second time, further validation of these techniques using a randomized-control trial.

Publications & conference data

No peer-reviewed publications indexed yet for this trial.