There is a need for better understanding of relapse in pathological
gambling and this review attempts to do so. There is an analysis of situations
that trigger the relapse, as well as of the predictors of therapeutic
failure. Amodel of cognitive-behavioral intervention is proposed and the
outcome of the program is analyzed. Future studies need to address new
challenges in the current pathological gambling literature, such as to
focus on the issue of responsible gambling as a therapeutic aim or to
design interventions to improve compliance and reduce dropout rates
during the psychological treatment of patients.