Abstract Background: There is no consensus on how to best define recovery in gambling disorder. This minimizes clinicians’ abilities to apply optimal treatment goals and contributes to inconsistency in the use of outcome variables to evaluate interventions. Current understanding of recovery is largely based on professional opinion and theoretical models of gambling disorder. This study aimed to examine core features of recovery identified by service users with lived experiences. Methods: Thematic analysis was applied to qualitative data from 32 face-to-face interviews. Interviewees were at various stages of help-seeking for gambling problems mostly related to electronic gaming machines via self-exclusion and/or specialized gambling counseling. Results: Recovery was perceived by the participants as a continuous process that encompasses periods of improvement and decline. Several key themes of recovery emerged; participants highlighted the importance of developing insight into the psychological and environmental processes that contribute to their gambling problem. Insight helped participants feel empowered to successfully manage their gambling urges and behavior. Recovery extended to building a meaningful life beyond gambling, which involved engagement in alternative activities and fostering strong social relationships. It included stabilization of personal finances and achieving general psychological health and wellbeing. Conclusions: Findings challenge acute symptom-focused models of recovery by broadening the definitional boundaries to include sustained improvements across multiple psychosocial dimensions. Greater emphasis should be given to service user-defined elements of recovery in treatment and research. The long-term perspective of the recovery process has implications for extending standard follow-up assessment intervals in gambling treatment studies.

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从赌博障碍中恢复是什么意思？赌博的观点有助于服务用户

摘要 背景：关于如何最好地定义赌博障碍的恢复尚无共识。这最大限度地降低了临床医生应用最佳治疗目标的能力，并导致使用结果变量来评估干预措施的不一致。目前对康复的理解主要基于赌博障碍的专业意见和理论模型。本研究旨在检查具有生活经历的服务用户所确定的恢复的核心特征。方法：对来自 32 次面对面访谈的定性数据进行主题分析。受访者正处于寻求帮助的不同阶段，主要通过自我排除和/或专门的赌博咨询来解决与电子游戏机有关的赌博问题。结果：参与者认为恢复是一个持续的过程，包括改善和下降的时期。出现了几个恢复的关键主题；参与者强调了深入了解导致赌博问题的心理和环境过程的重要性。洞察力帮助参与者感到有能力成功管理他们的赌博冲动和行为。恢复延伸到建立超越赌博的有意义的生活，这涉及参与替代活动和培养牢固的社会关系。它包括稳定个人财务和实现总体心理健康和福祉。结论：研究结果通过扩大定义边界以包括跨多个心理社会维度的持续改善来挑战以急性症状为中心的恢复模型。应更加重视在治疗和研究中为用户定义的康复要素提供服务。恢复过程的长期观点对延长赌博治疗研究中的标准后续评估间隔具有影响。