Gambling disorder, formerly known as pathological gambling, is a gambling behavior that causes significant function impairment in personal, social, occupational domains. Currently there is no pharmacological treatment for gambling disorder and it is urgent to develop innovative treatment modalities. Image studies have found a link between prefrontal circuit dysfunction and behavioral disinhibition, which supports the use of non-invasive brain stimulation as a potential treatment for gambling disorder. In this study, 75 patients with gambling disorder will be randomly assigned in a 2:1 ratio to the intervention group (50 patients) and the control group (25 patients) on double-blind basis. The study duration is 2 weeks, with 10 sessions of 20 minutes each. The intervention group will receive repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation at the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and pre-supplementary motor area, while the control group will receive sham stimulation. The Chinese version of the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI), the Gambling Symptom Assessment Scale (G-SAS), and the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for craving will be administered at week 0, 2, 4, 8, and the change in gambling severity between the two groups will be compared by repeated measures ANOVA.
The goal of this clinical trial is to investigate the efficacy of theta burst stimulation in individuals with gambling disorder. The main goal is to compare the severity of gambling problems following 2 weeks of intervention between active group and sham group. Participants will be randomized into active and sham group. The severity of gambling problems are assessed by self-reported questionaires.