Behavior Completion Versus Stimulus Control in Compulsive Gambling

Twenty subjects were randomly allocated to receive either imaginal relaxation (IR) or imaginal desensitization (ID) to reduce compulsive gambling. As predicted from a behavioral completion model, but not a stimulus control model, subjects' response to IR was comparable with that to ID. Also as predicted, response correlated with subjects' levels of tension following treatment. Detailed assessment of the situations in which subjects' gambling occurred was not necessary for effective IR therapy. The result established the treatment validity of the assessment used, this study being the first to compare the treatment validity of different behavioral assessments. The finding that manipulation of an organismic variable level of arousal is as effective as a manipulation of a stimulus variable in the treatment of compulsive gambling supports the trend among behavior therapists to place more emphasis on the importance of organismic variables as determinants of pathological behaviors.