Gambling Addiction, The Not So Talked About Affliction, There Is A Way Out

Author: Chris Emberley

When most people think of addiction, they think about drugs or alcohol. But addiction has many faces, and one of them is gambling. Gambling is actually one of the worst addictions. It destroys families, ruins businesses, and hurts society in a big way.

Consider this funny thought: In a normal night, a drug addict might spend up to $2,000 on drugs. That's a whole lot, and they must be sharing. But when you're gambling, you can lose your life savings in a night.

In Las Vegas, gambling addiction is the number one cause of suicides in that city and much of the United States. The act of killing oneself often happens in casino parking lots.

The life of the gambling addict is a dark, empty world where one goes to escape reality and chase the elusive grand prize. Even if they win a jackpot, it is not enough. They will not stop.

When you take a puff, snort, or inject a drug, you release happy chemicals in your brain that flood your pathways. The most common one is called dopamine. When you press that button on the slot machine or wait for that card to flip over in blackjack to see if you've won, your brain is dumping out dopamine just like taking a drug.

In this article, we will explain the signs of a gambling addict, where and how to get help, and make people realize this is not a character defect or flaw but actually identified as the disease of addiction. There are many ways to get help, and the next paragraphs explain how.

Identifying a gambling addict in yourself or others

In this section, we explain how to identify a gambling addict in yourself or in others and how to approach the friend, spouse, parent, or loved one in the right manner. From here on, I will use the word \"subject\" to label the addict.

First, you may know the subject is a full-on gambling addict, and maybe you have said something to them, but they are in complete denial. This is very common. Even though they see thousands of dollars wasted and college funds going down the drain, all they see is the slot machine saying jackpot.

To truly get the subject to address your pain, you must arrange an intervention—much like interventions for drugs and alcohol. Have all the subject's loved ones explain how the subject has affected their lives in a negative way.

They say every addict directly affects five to seven people in a very negative way, and then those people affect others, and so on.

Once the subject gets past the stage of denial, you have the most important step done, but you're a long way from the end. Addiction comes with letdowns, relapses, and a lot of trust being destroyed.

Basically, in the intervention, everyone enabling the subject's gambling—even by helping the smallest bit, such as driving them—must stop. The subject must know that now it is either time to get help or time to leave family and loved ones behind.

If the subject chooses to go their own way, that is not uncommon. Just stick to your guns and make sure you do not give them anything. Eventually, they will beg for help.

The addict can never arrest their affliction until they are truly ready, so there may be many attempts at getting better, and they can fall off the wagon again. But once they have identified they are sick and are trying to get better, never walk away from the subject. With recovery comes setbacks.

In the final section, we go into exact ways to treat gambling addiction and how to keep the affliction arrested long-term.

The most popular and effective ways of recovery

This is probably the most important section because it explains how to stay abstinent from gambling and make it last long-term. First, like aforementioned, the subject must be past denial, so a form of treatment and help is needed, just like any other disease.

A lot of people choose inpatient or outpatient rehab facilities that specialize in gambling programs, which is a great way to start. You will be in a center with other addicts, including drug and alcohol addicts, but you will have your own program specialized for gambling problems.

These programs are very effective in getting the subject back on course in their life. They can show them the damage done and give them people to talk to who are going through the same affliction.

When you're in these programs, you will be taught about aftercare plans—especially what to do in your free time after work and on weekends, who not to hang out with, and general tricks to help you stay \"sober\" from gambling.

The main gateway for recovery is the 12-Step program. This is used for all addictions, but there is a specific group for gamblers called G.A., which is Gamblers Anonymous. This is a place where you go, sit down in a room with all other addicts for an hour or two, have coffee, and go around talking about your life. It is really a great experience.

You can meet good friends here, and if you stick to the people who have stopped gambling and never went back, you're in good shape.

Now, all around every casino in real life or online, you will see an ad on every machine or around every table talking about gambling addiction. It usually gives a number to call for help, but that isn't what you're focused on when you're in the casino. So try to get your information from the group and also this website Gamblers Anonymous hotlines.

There is hope for the gambler. They just have to be willing. Thank you for reading this article.