Gambling addiction is peculiar for approximately 1 percent of population all over the world. One thing is when gambling for fun and stop it when a person wants to. Quite another thing is when somebody is not able to stop gambling, even if he/she has run out of money.
Thinking of addiction most people suppose alcohol and/or drugs, but certain behaviors turn out to be as addictive as mentioned substances. Gambling addiction means that a person is addicted to the process (of gambling). Such people often go on gambling even after having experienced negative consequences not only in financial area, but in social, professional and personal life as well. Gamblers who are not addicted tend to play free slots no download. Such slots are less risky, but also allow the player to get satisfaction from the game.
Signs of gambling addiction
Gambling becomes a real problem when someone cannot give up doing it even if he or she wants to. Other signs of this state may include:
- Permanent or almost permanent concern by gambling.
- A few failed attempts to give up gambling.
- Developing tolerance to gambling causing to more risky behavior.
- Swings of mood.
- Lying related to gambling behavior.
- Going on gambling to get back money already spent for it.
- Preferring gambling to working, hobbies, family duties, social meetings, etc.
- Experiencing a few issues due to gambling (social, family, friends, job etc).
- Anxiety or irritability signs by attempting to give up gambling.
- Starting illegal activities such as stealing money for gambling.
- Asking other people for money to go on gambling.
- Gambling as a reaction to stress situations, depression, or anxiety.
Is there any possibilitiy to test myself whether I have gambling addiction or not? For this purpose, a special manual is created by American psychiatric association. Called as Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders it can be used for self-testing for gambling addiction.
Test for gambling addiction
Passing this test a person must answer series of questions that helps both to diagnose mental health in overall and detect possible disorders such as gambling addiction. These questions are intended to help a person understand whether he/she is an avid gambler and whether wants to quit or not. The data obtained also allow to detect type of addiction to gambling you might be suffering from.
What types of gambling addiction exist?
There are different ways to display gambling addiction. Dealing with the problem demands first of all determination of gambling addiction type and situation which has led to developing addiction.
1. Professional Gamblers
This one is a very rare type of gamblers. Professional gambling means people earning for their living with it. Somehow, they manage to confront the money-taking systems and come out ahead. Professional gamblers are extraordinarily:
- patient,
- tolerant to frustration,
- intelligent, and
- skilled to keep their self-control.
For professional gamblers, it is of importance to correctly weigh all odds of the situation to make the right decision how to proceed. In such conditions, impulsivity and anger must be dismissed to stay cool and make right decisions on the way to score another goal. Professional gamblers very often show no signs of gambling addiction. Otherwise it can bring some damage to the field of rational and quick thinking and selfcontrol. Such situation can make losses prevail above wins.
2. Casual, Social Gamblers
This group of gamblers is bigger than the previous one. Visiting casinos only occasionally social gamblers can spend some money there and then leave for home. As a rule, they are not aiming the goal to make wins at any cost. Such persons are looking for ways just to relieve stress. For this purpose, they can meet new people or join friends for some events like popular poker games, dice games, bingo, sports betting whatever. Like social drinkers, casual gamblers are looking for means to de-stress. This happens not every day and mainly after work. Meeting people suffering from the same problems is more important than any other thing. This allows to conclude that such people are primarily focused not on things like alcohol or gambling.
3. Serious Social Gamblers
In comparison to above ones, serious gamblers have no other outlets and can rely only on gambling. Collected coping skills, mostly negative, can be even useful at the moment, but they undoubtedly lead to future issues. Their efforts to de-stress thanks to gambling may result in sliding down to problematic gambling if they want to fulfil family or job obligations etc.
4. Relief and Escape Gamblers
According to National Institute on Drug Abuse, forming of addictions is connected with developing behaviors helping people satisfy their current emotional needs. For such gamblers it is possibility to manage things causing stress.
Winning skills in this case may be poor as well as ability to judge and make quick decisions. In these conditions big losses are very possible in short-time frames. And that automatically means feeling more stress, depression so on. For satisfying current emotional needs, such gamblers could make benefits from their expanded coping skills.
5. Conservative Gamblers
This group is interested in some experience rather than in any other aspects. After watching movies or TV programs where games were shown they are curious to try activities like playing slots etc.
Such gamblers have either not so much money or limited time for their attempts and stick to it whatever happens – win or lose. According to this practice, it seems very difficult to find out addictive gambling in this group of gamblers.
6. Personality Gamblers
Personality gamblers. also called as antisocial gamblers due to their activities, differ from above types very much because their behavior is out of legal ways. For such gambler, any means are possible to achieve the goal. To win money he/she is ready for lying, stealing, deceiving charging people so on. The tactics can be both very simple like hiding a card up the sleeve, and more complicated like conspiring to fix some sport events.
Under the circumstances not only gambling itself is a problem here, other aspects of gamblers’ criminal activities require treating by professionals as well as their psychological health.
7. Compulsive Gamblers
These individuals live only for making money thanks to gambling. They might have no wish to admit it, but the signs of gambling disorders are evident:
- Time spent on gambling is very huge.
- Attempts to give up gambling are without any success.
- They are going on with gambling despite caused by gambling problems in social life including relationships, job, or home life.
- Permanent chasing one more win as a chance to compensate previous losses.
These gamblers must be treated by professionals as well as supported by their relatives and families. Otherwise it is hard to escape worsening of life circumstances.
Treatment for gambling addiction
People suffering from gambling addiction may need help including:
Individual therapy
Such behavioral therapy has shown its effectiveness in treating gambling addiction. Involving exposure therapy helps with altering habits and targeting the urge to gamble. As for cognitive behavioral therapy, it is aiming the goal to pinpoint the thoughts triggering such behaviors to replace them with productive ones.
Group therapy
Such treatment can really help in many situations, as it builds a sense of community where people with same problems and in similar situations can support each other. That is why group therapy is often used alongside with behavioral therapy.
Another thing is that gambling addiction of an individual can impact the entire family as well. In this case, damaged relationships could be repaired thanks to special family therapy.
Medications
Possible complications of gambling addiction may include conditions like depression, anxiety so on. In many cases, medications can be helpful, e.g. mood stabilizers or antidepressants. For stabilization of such individuals’ condition, they may be involved in different programs like inpatient programs or residential care.
Conclusion
Individuals involved in gambling may experience negative consequences in any area of life. In many cases, gambling leads to addiction with huge impact on a person in many aspects, so it should be abolished anyway. Gambling of any type may become problematic and intensify the problem and its consequences.
In case you suspect yourself to have a gambling problem, you can try a self-test. The results of the test are not a diagnosis, but the right step towards professionals who can offer adequate help. Any individual suspecting a gambling addiction should seek help. So do not hesitate to take measures if you feel something like gambling addiction.
Author
Tiffany Cutting is a professional journalist. The main topics of her articles are sports and gambling. Now she is working in the team of specialists on creating content for Slotsspot web portal.