The counselling session detailed below illustrates how I used a cyclic intervention with a client and how this intervention emerged during the session.

This method proved effective in ways that often surprised me, and other counsellors might benefit from using similar interventions.

On other pages of this website, I describe how the intervention is consistent with key counselling theories, including psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioural therapies. See “The counselling pages on this website”. *Link.

I have called the client Zed. He is a fictional character that I invented based on the many clients I saw during my ten years working as a problem gambling counsellor.

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The identified cyclic dynamic

The method for generating and using the cyclic intervention is critical; however, to give you an idea of where we are going, I begin by presenting the cyclic dynamic that emerged during the session with Zed.

Zed’s life had become dominated by a vicious cycle, a self-amplifying dynamic in which:

• Zed gambled more to experience the exhilaration of respect during his winning streaks; however, this tended to
• Increase the damage caused by his gambling, including losing money and the respect of people who were central to his life, which tended to
• increased his need for respect, which tended to
• further increase his gambling.

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Many links to other pages are not active because I am still writing these pages. I am working on it. 16/11/2025

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The intake phone call

Zed’s first contact with our problem gambling counselling service was when he rang our intake counsellor and made an appointment to see a face-to-face counsellor.

The intake worker reported that Zed rang because his lawyer had told him that attending counselling might help him in court. He was forty years old and still living at home with his mother. He bet on horses at the racetrack, had lost heavily, and in desperation had stolen from his employer. Now he had lost his job working at night cleaning offices and was facing court.

When offered our usual information sheets, he said, “No. Don’t bother. I don’t remember things.”

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Session structure

His first words to me were, ‘How’s this going to help me?’ The firmness in his voice reinforced what he’d said during the intake interview: he was here on his lawyer’s advice, and doubtful about it.

Zed had also told the intake worker that he didn’t remember things, so I planned to keep things simple in this counselling session. For example, I used a whiteboard so Zed would have a running summary of our session in front of him. As we talked, I added keywords to a cobweb diagram on the whiteboard, organised like this.

The things he liked about gambling.		The things he disliked about gambling.
	Other important things that he mentioned.

The counselling session meandered, but here I present separately: (1) the final cobweb diagram, (2) the things he liked about his gambling, and (3) the things he disliked about his gambling, interwoven with other issues that he raised.

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Zed’s cobweb diagram

Here is the final cobweb diagram, which shows the main points we discussed and includes the vicious cycle.

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What Zed liked about his gambling

Zed loved gambling. Repeatedly, when he talked about racing, his voice would lift and his face would light up. At the track, on his good days, he could do nothing wrong. He was a winner. People noticed him, congratulated him, and even asked for tips. Strangers became drinking partners, he met attractive women, and for a few hours, he wasn’t a cleaner living with his mother. He felt like a professional gambler.

As he spoke, I added words to the cobweb diagram on the whiteboard.

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What Zed disliked about his gambling

Here are the main things that Zed disliked about his gambling, along with other aspects of his story.

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Losses and arrest

Despite his winning streaks, his losses continued to mount. He stole to keep going, and his bosses found out and reported this to the police. Now he had to appear in court. This loomed over him, and the thought of his name in the papers filled him with horror.

At home, he often could not contribute to their rent and food. His mother lashed out, calling him crazy and saying he was a moron. He half believed her, saying, “I suppose I am a bit crazy. I can’t stay away from the horses.”

She kept on telling him to see a doctor about his memory and the car crash years back. He brushed this aside, saying he didn’t have time to think about that.

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Loss of Football

Once, he had something else. He played football. Although light-framed, he was fast and never gave up; that earned him a place on his local team. It gave him status, friends, and an incentive to train so the team could play in the finals.

Then came the car accident. When he tried to return to football, his temper flared at training, and he quit. That’s when he started gambling.

Often, he was stuck at home watching television, in the house with his frequently angry mother, even more so now that he had lost his job.

The best thing was watching his AFL team. He watched all their games on television. He said their captain was so brave, and everyone looked up to him.

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Old Wounds

At school, he suffered bullying and hated going. He left school in the middle of year 11 to work in a supermarket.

A woman he used to live with ten years ago had played the pokies, stolen from him, and left him bitter.

Several friends had borrowed money from him, but now denied it.

Life had left him scarred and suspicious, weighed down by a string of defeats.

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Zed’s difficulties

I saw Zed as facing so many difficulties on every side:

• Stealing from work/arrest
  • Job loss
  • Court/Possible penalties/Publicity
  • Shame
• Not remembering things
• Car accident,
  • Short fuse& arguments at his football club
  • Worry: Did he have a brain injury
• Loss of football
  • Loss of status in the team
  • Loss of his teammates
• Living at home with his mother at 40 years old
• Arguments with his mother
• Bullied at school
• Difficulty of getting a future job
  • Little education
  • No career path that he liked
  • No reference from his employer
• Loss and alienation

As I spoke with him, I felt so daunted by the challenges he would face in breaking free from his passionate attachment to gambling, finding a new job, gaining independence from his mother, and establishing a social life that would satisfy him.

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The cyclic intervention

It occurred to me that one thing he longed for was for others to respect him. I asked him whether respect was essential to him, and he nodded vigorously.

I’d intended to keep the session simple. However, despite this, I talked him through a vicious cycle that was possibly dominating his life: needing respect, gambling to feel respected, and losing respect through gambling losses. As I talked, I pointed to parts of the cobweb diagram that related to what I was saying, and on the diagram, I added the arrows and text, which are now visible in red. I said things like:

• It seems to me that you’re in a tough spot now and could be longing for respect, like the respect you have for the Carlton football captain and the respect you felt from other players on your team when you played well. I added the “need respect” and the arrow between “Other” and “Likes” in the diagram.
• You’ve said that when you are on a winning streak, you feel you can’t lose, you meet people, and they ask you for tips. Even here in this room, when you’ve talked about gambling, your face lights up. You are passionate about your gambling. It might be because during these winning streaks, you feel respected when people ask you for tips.
• But often you lose, so you’ve stolen from work and angered your mum. You’ve lost respect at home and at work.
• Then, just like on the football field, you don’t give up. You return to the horses, hanging out for your next winning streak and to feel respected once again.
• You want respect. You gamble to feel respected when you’re on a winning streak, but you lose money and respect at home and now at work, and you go back to gambling to feel respected.
• This is a vicious cycle that keeps you gambling.

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Zed’s response

Zed responded, “That’s what’s on my belt.” He stood up and pointed to the playing card symbols, diamonds and clubs, embossed on his belt.

Zed: “A man made this belt for me with diamonds and clubs. I picked diamonds for gambling. The clubs are for respect: they’re strong. But you’re saying more, betting breaks respect, and, well, … I suppose that’s right. No one put it that way before.”

Despite Zed saying he had difficulties at school and with memory, he immediately understood this cyclic logic. Fortuitously, the critical elements of the cyclic intervention were on his belt to help him remember the session.

Later, he said, “Perhaps I’m not so crazy, like mum says.” The cyclic intervention provided him with an alternative way to understand his gambling, and he seemed relieved.

Zed had organised counselling at his lawyer’s urging, and was now involved in this session.

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After this session

I was amazed at the impact of this intervention.

This session, along with others, demonstrated to me that simply listing the pros and cons of gambling on a whiteboard, along with “other issues,” can help reveal a cyclical dynamic surrounding a key desire or dread for the client —a dynamic that the client can readily understand and appreciate.  

The cobweb diagram showed the vicious cycle, with each part supported by the words Zed used to tell his story. The diagram summarised much of the session, so I included it in my case notes.

This process enhanced reflective listening, as it served as a reflection of the entire session and assisted my analysis of the whole. This process was effective. The analysis surprised both me and Zed. It was accurate and had a positive impact on Zed.

The cyclic intervention offered Zed an explanation for his difficulties that he readily understood. It also suggested a clear challenge: how to disrupt the amplifying feedback cycle. Zed gained confidence and engaged with the counselling process.

Related pages

This page has detailed the counselling session with client Zed. Other web pages describe how this counselling fits in with other counselling theories, and each of these theories offers a slightly different perspective on Zed.

*Link to “The counselling pages on this site” 

I discuss the cyclic logic used here in the systems theory pages of this site. *Link.

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References

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Updated 16 Nov 2025

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