There was a time when people only acknowledged one type of addiction – addiction to substances such as drugs, nicotine, and alcohol. However, throughout the years of human development, more and more specialists began realizing that there was something more to it than just addictive substances. People were, and are, forming addictions to brain stimulation from certain activities that bring said stimulation.
Gambling is one of the activities that has been discovered to cause this addictive behavior in humans. But what exactly is problem gambling, why should it be considered an issue? This activity becomes an issue, or “problem gambling” when an individual starts spending abnormal periods of time indulging in gambling activities. When one starts wagering more than they can afford and the person begins to harm themselves and others around them because of the excessive time and funds they put into it.
The thing is, once the problem gambling becomes too severe, it tends to be either too late, or extremely hard to overcome the addiction. That is why it is important to learn what the symptoms are, how to recognize them on time, and how to properly tackle the issue.
Unsettling Trends – How Common is Gambling Addiction?
When you start thinking about it, gambling addictions are quite unpleasant, as all types of impulsive behavior are. It gets you thinking, how common is this thing, do lots of people suffer from problem gambling. We have put together a few numbers to identify the percentage of problem gambling in various developed markets to shed some light on the subject.
The Biochemistry of a Hidden Addiction
Just like any other psychological sickness, addiction is an illness that affects the brain of an individual. It is important to understand the biochemistry of a hidden addiction to be aware of what is really going on inside the head of an addict.
Gambling addiction is quite similar if not the same as any other addiction, such as an addiction to narcotic substances or alcohol. It develops a reward system in your brain that consists of urge and satisfying the urge, releasing dopamine and serotonin into the body. Repeating this system over and over creates neurological paths of the brain until the condition becomes compulsive.
To understand the biochemistry of addiction, you must know how your brain works. Our emotions, thoughts, feelings, reactions, and actions are all controlled by a complex system of neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine, endogenous opioids, and hormones.
Individuals with impulsive disorders have been found to have imbalanced levels of dopamine. Dopamine is released when a person indulges in stimulating activities or substances such as drugs or gambling.
People with low levels of serotonin can also have issues controlling their desires, which can lead to several different bad habits. This neurotransmitter is implicated in mood, cognition, and emotion.
Endogenous opioids are like the body’s natural opiate-like substances, such as endorphins. They are released in your body to cause happiness or numb pain. If an individual has opioidergic systems, they may have a harder time controlling urges or desires and can lead to addictive behavior.
Cortisol is a hormone that helps regulate the body’s stress and adrenaline levels. Higher levels of this hormone can also be related to impulse control disorders, being one of the common causes of addictive gambling.
When a person is suffering from addictive gambling, it is likely due to unbalanced neurotransmitters in the brain. This can cause an individual to feel a certain, strong urge to continue gambling despite their knowledge that it is becoming a problem.
There is a certain pleasure that comes with the neurotransmitters being released into your body when you play or win a gambling activity. It often begins when one starts lying about their activities because they know it is wrong and would rather not talk about it. This kind of behavior can be quite harmful to a person and those around them. The longer it goes without treatment, the worse it gets and the harder it gets to overcome.
The Biggest Losers on a Global Scale
Cognitive Distortions Associated with Gambling Disorder
The Symptoms of Gambling Addiction
Recognizing the Problem
The Biggest Losers on a Global Scale
Another interesting aspect of gambling to look at is which country has the biggest losers worldwide, it helps put some perspective on the matter. Here we have gathered some information for gambling losses in 2017 on a global scale.
Australia is at the top of the list with $958 gambling losses per adult. Hong Kong takes second place, with 20% less than Australia, at $768 lost per adult, while Singapore comes a close third with $725 lost per adult. Finland comes in fourth place with $515 in losses per adult, followed by New Zealand, which has losses of $454 per adult.
Japan takes 6th place with gambling losses of $447, while Ireland bags 7th place with $433. Norway comes closely behind in 8th place with $430 in losses per adult and the US takes 9th place with $421 lost per adult. In 10th place comes Canada with $382 lost to gambling per adult.
Next up comes Panama in 11th place with losses of $376 per adult, followed by the UK in 12th place who had $346 in gambling losses per adult. Malta and Iceland take 13th and 14th place with $344 and $339 in losses per adult respectively.
Cognitive Distortions Associated with Gambling Disorder
Gambling disorder has many underlying factors that worsen the issue. Many gambling addicts reassure themselves with thoughts like I can stop any time, I have control over the situation, my gambling is not an issue. This is what we call cognitive distortions in the head of a person with a gambling disorder.
One of the more common cognitive distortions associated with gambling disorder is the gambler’s fallacy. This is the erroneous belief that if a particular outcome occurs more frequently, it is less likely to happen in the future and vice versa. The gambler’s fallacy has enveloped many gamblers in it, creating a near-manic like obsession with proving the phenomenon. This will cause repetitive behavior in an individual, thus creating a gambling disorder.
Another interesting fact is that people are more sensitive to losses than to gains. This is why it is more common for people to reject a 50/50 chance of winning or losing, as loss aversion has a stronger hold on an individual.
Illusion of control is another common cognitive disorder in problem gamblers. This is when someone has the idea that they can use skill involvement in situations or games that are considered as games of chance, such as slot machines or lottery tickets.
The illusion of control is facilitated by certain things such as choosing your lottery ticket, apparent competition or, say, instrumental action like throwing a roulette ball. A recent study found that problem gamblers as a whole had much greater confidence in their abilities to control outcomes of games of chance than non-gamblers.
Another interesting factor to look at on the subject is the impact of near miss outcomes on gamblers. Near miss outcomes are when an unsuccessful outcome was proximal to a large jackpot. In contrast to full misses, this type of outcome has the potential to bring up excitement levels and “hook” a gambler into more motivated gameplay and continuing when they may have given up.
The Symptoms of Gambling Addiction
Gambling addiction is a nasty sickness that can cause a lot of needless misery. For one to recognize and understand problem gambling, it is important to know the symptoms of this disorder.
The first sign to look out for is preoccupation with gambling. If you find yourself or someone around you constantly occupied with these activities, there may be a need to pay more attention to the person’s habits. You will also notice a restlessness that leads to irritability, making a person more likely to have an emotional outburst.
Another symptom includes increased stress levels, which can only be relieved by indulging in more gambling activities. This is because an individual is feeling urges to gamble and is having to battle them, causing stress, and so they resort to gambling to deal with it.
When the person loses the inner battle and turns to gambling, they may find themselves lying to close friends and family to cover the guilt they feel for lack of self-control. This can lead to destroying or at least putting stress on family or close relationships, elevating the gambler’s stress level, making them turn to more gambling. Jeopardizing one’s job is a definite indicator that gambling has become an issue for them.
The more serious symptom is when financial issues arise because of excessive gambling. Resorting to fraud, thievery, or loans to continue funding your gambling activities is the clearest sign you can get for gambling addiction.
Recognizing the Problem
Now that you know what the symptoms are, you will also need to know the key things to look out for to recognize gambling addiction in a friend or close family. You will notice behavioral and emotional changes that are easy to spot if you know what to look for.
Emotional changes that derive from stress and anxiety related to the battle of wills in the head of a gambler can be quite obvious to someone who knows the person well. The stress levels can lead to insomnia, which will naturally make the person look worn out and drained. A person with gambling addiction tends to turn pale, suffer from severe headaches, and palpitation.
Someone with a gambling disorder will also tend to hide things from their close ones by lying. This will cause a change in attitude, higher stress levels, and emotional outbursts. The emotional outbursts may even start with the gambler trying to deflect from their own issues by underlining flaws or even imagining personal attacks that lead to conflict.
Lack of control over their financial situation is another red light. If you see a gambler struggling to keep a hold on their life, asking for money, or even stealing, you will know there is something up. Destroying personal relationships is another common indicator of a gambling issue, do not allow this to happen by reacting to the person’s irritable behavior.
Where to Seek Help?
The world is making more and more leaps forward every day in terms of technology. Courtesy of this, there are many solutions available to people who need help controlling their gambling issues.
Talking to your loved ones is the first step. If you are open and honest about your feelings and the turmoil you are going through, having people who love, support, and understand that you are going to have a great impact on your issues. Feeling loved and supported is a definite positive impact on all forms of addiction.
It may be an idea to consult with your personal doctor if you have realized that your gambling habits are a problem. Your doctor can help put you on the right path to choosing a suitable solution or organization for managing your gambling.
Support/peer groups are another great option for helping yourself start the long road to recovery. Having people who understand and know what you are going through from first-hand experience is comforting and will help you find the right path.
Most countries that have developed gambling markets also have organizations to help problem gamblers. These organizations have experience with the psychology of a problem gambler and will be well-equipped to help you manage your gambling activities.
For UK residents, GamCare and Be Gamble Aware are a great choice to help you deal with your addiction. Australian residents can turn to LifeLine, another organization dedicated to helping gambling addicts. The US has a National Council on Problem Gambling that can offer a helping hand. Italian citizens can reach out to Gioca Resposabile if they are experiencing gambling addiction.
It is important to understand that admitting there is a problem is not a weakness but actually shows your strength as an individual. This is the first step to recovery, so never be ashamed to say, oh dear, I seem to have taken this too far. It is never too late to turn back, but it is also better if you tackle the issue on time. Seek the help you need and never be ashamed to do so.