From the Casino to Clinic: The Psychology of Gambling in Psychiatric Decision Making

From the casino floor to the clinic, decision-making under uncertainty shapes both patient behavior and clinical care. Every time we ask a patient to trust us on a treatment plan, we are navigating a degree of uncertainty—balancing risk, reward, and individual response to help us make the most informed decision possible. Using principles from the psychology of gambling as a lens, this session explores how patient behavior and clinician decision-making are interconnected, and when to step back and re-examine those choices in practice. …And if you’re staying in Vegas a little longer, you may even pick up a few tips you can use on the casino floor!