Compulsive gambling

Compulsive gambling

Definition:

Compulsive gambling is the uncontrollable urge to keep gambling despite the toll it takes on your life. If you're prone to compulsive gambling, you may continually chase bets, lie or hide your behavior, and resort to theft or fraud to support your addiction.
Compulsive gambling is a serious condition that can destroy lives. Although treating compulsive gambling can be challenging, many compulsive gamblers have found help through professional treatment.

Symptoms:

Signs and symptoms of compulsive (pathologic) gambling include:

• Gaining a thrill from taking big gambling risks
• Taking increasingly bigger gambling risks
• A preoccupation with gambling
• Reliving past gambling experiences
• Gambling as a way to escape problems or feelings of helplessness, guilt or depression
• Taking time from work or family life to gamble
• Concealing gambling
• Feeling guilt or remorse after gambling
• Borrowing money or stealing to gamble
• Failed efforts to cut back on gambling
• Lying to hide gambling

Compulsive gambling typically begins in the late teen years. On rare occasions, gambling becomes a problem with the very first wager. But more often, a gambling problem progresses over time. In fact, many people spend years enjoying social gambling without any problems. But more frequent gambling or life stresses can turn casual gambling into something much more serious. During periods of stress or depression, the urge to gamble may be especially overpowering. Eventually, a person with a gambling problem becomes almost completely preoccupied with gambling and getting money to gamble.

For most compulsive gamblers, betting isn't as much about money as it is about the excitement. Sustaining the thrill gambling provides usually involves taking increasingly bigger risks and placing larger bets. Those bets may involve sums you can't afford to lose. Unlike most casual gamblers, compulsive gamblers are compelled to keep playing to recoup their money — a pattern that becomes increasingly destructive over time.

When to see a doctor or mental health provider
Have family members, friends or co-workers expressed concern about your gambling? If so, listen to their worries. Because denial is almost always a characteristic of compulsive or addictive behavior, it may be difficult for you to recognize that you have a problem and seek treatment.
Gambling is out of control if:

• It's affecting your relationships, your finances or your work life
• You're devoting more and more time and energy to gambling pursuits
• You've unsuccessfully tried to stop or cut back on your gambling
• You try to conceal your gambling from family or health professionals
• You resort to theft or fraud to get gambling money
• You ask others to bail you out of financial woes because you've gambled money away

Causes:

 Exactly what causes someone to gamble compulsively isn't well understood. Like many problems, compulsive gambling may result from a combination of biological, genetic and environmental factors.

Complications:

Compulsive gambling can have profound and long-lasting consequences for your life, including:

• Relationship problems
• Financial problems, including bankruptcy
• Legal problems or incarceration
• Job loss or professional stigma
• Development of associated problems, such as alcohol or drug abuse
• Suicide

Treatments and drugs:

Treating compulsive gambling can be challenging. That's partly because most people have a hard time admitting they have a problem. Yet a major component of treatment is working on acknowledging that you're a compulsive gambler. If your family or your employer pressured you into therapy, you may find yourself resisting treatment. But treating a gambling problem can help you regain a sense of control — and perhaps even help heal damaged relationships or finances.
Treatment for compulsive gambling involves three main approaches:

• Psychotherapy. Psychological treatments, such as behavior therapy or cognitive behavioral therapy, may be beneficial for compulsive gambling. Behavior therapy uses systematic exposure to the behavior you want to unlearn (gambling) and teaches you skills to reduce your urge to gamble. Cognitive behavioral therapy focuses on identifying unhealthy, irrational and negative beliefs and replacing them with healthy, positive ones.
• Medications. Antidepressants and mood stabilizers may help problems that often go along with compulsive gambling — such as depression, obsessive compulsive disorder or ADHD — but not necessarily compulsive gambling itself. Medications called narcotic antagonists, which have been found useful in treating substance abuse, may help treat compulsive gambling.
• Self-help groups. Some people find self-help groups, such as Gamblers Anonymous, a helpful part of treatment.

Even with treatment, you may return to gambling, especially if you spend time with people who gamble or in gambling environments. If you feel that you'll start gambling again, contact your care provider or sponsor right away to head off a full-blown relapse.