Arguments Against Compulsive Gambling

“Current estimates suggest that three percent of the adult population will experience a serious problem with gambling that will result in significant debt, family disruption, job losses, criminal activity or suicide. Pathological gambling affects the gamblers, their families, their employers and the community. As the gamblers go through the phases of their addiction, they spend less

“Gambling addiction, particularly is easy to start; it requires no elaborate or illegal activities, no troublesome ingestion of substances, and it programs the body using its own chemicals” (Brodak 302). Molly Brodak the daughter of Joseph and the author of “Bandit” speaks up about growing up with a father who is addicted to gambling. Molly, her sister, and mother struggle to overcome the challenges that come along with having a man in their life who loses everything for them. Not only does this gambling addiction that Joseph suffers from harm his life financially but also emotionally.

This study was done on 150 people seeking treatment for drug problems, and found that 32 of the participants were pathological gamblers, 19 were problem gamblers, and the remaining 96 were social gamblers. Among the studied pathological gamblers, 56.3% were seeking treatment for cocaine use, and 25% were seeking treatment for alcohol. One of the prevalent findings in this study was the rate of suicidal thoughts or actions; 26 out of the 32 pathological gamblers (81.3%) had reported serious thoughts of suicide, and 12 (37.5%) had actually attempted suicide at least once. It was also found that, on average, most of the pathological gamblers started gambling before they started using

Gambling is all around the United States, and it can be a dangerous game for families. Many casino’s find gambling as a profit for their Company, since many people from around the United States will come to their casino and try to win it big with their own money. Gambling has been around for many years and a statement made by Worldcasinodirectory.com, stated “To begin with, gambling did not originate in the US- it came to this country with immigrants from Europe, Asia- especially China, and other parts of the world.” The United States was just another victim of an ongoing addiction. By, understanding how gambling reached the borders of The United States, how a notorious gang leader started the empire of gambling, and how an addiction pushes people to their limits, can help understand how gambling has become such a demanding element in a society.

The harm principle states that the actions of individuals should only be limited to prevent harm to other individuals. The harm principle applies to Sarah Jones due to her negligence of her (3) minor children. Sarah had been a gambler for over three years, and that time she’s a slightly stressful situation into a major problem addiction. She began betting on bingo but soon that wasn’t a satisfying high any longer. So, Sarah started going to the casino’s. Gambling is an addiction for some, and for her, it was just that. For her to lose $85,000, and have to take out a second mortgage on her house; or to never be at home during the afternoon or evenings that's a serious problem. The fact that she is gone so often that her children aren't getting

The trail an individual takes to pathological gambling can essentially be defined as a psychological imbalance or emersion into an alternate world. Natasha Dow Schull, a cultural anthropologist, shows this alternate world emersion in her recent book on compulsive gambling and the addictive nature of slot machines. She describes these normally reserved individuals who become absorbed in gambling as entering a trancelike state she references as the “machine zone.” This “machine zone” is the essence of an addictive gamblers fault. Schull describes the individuals as having their personal needs, social worries, and bodily awareness fade (Schull, 2008). Unlike other addictions, pathological or problem gamblers are not controlled by a chemical or substance. They are consumed by a psychological need to gamble. That is why by developing an information structure that will monitor this behavior, preventive measures can be implemented to control these psychological emersions.

“We have all learned that addiction and mental illnesses are illnesses, and I think a lot of people overlook that it is a chemical imbalance; it’s like cancer, a sickness and people need to see that.” (Poppy Delevingne). Gambling an addiction that people harm controls. Addiction is a personal feeling of discomfort which becomes to act out no a signal to connect with others; Addiction is a relationship problem. Addiction affects people and serves their lives like Angie Bachmann and Rebecca. Angie was a mother of three daughters. Her youngest daughter started kindergarten, and the other was in middle school. Angie shouldn’t overcome her addiction to gambling. Angie was unsuccessful in finding a way to stop her gambling addiction while Rebecca found her way to recover. Rebecca felt her mistake in gambling does; she decided to change her life for the better Rebeca asked the pastor to let her work in the church in her spare time instead of gambling. It managed to change her life and the left gambling and became a member of the association.

Other surveys draw on the characteristics of pathological gambling, now called ‘gambling disorder, which also could be categorized to the kind of behavior we see in youths who show addiction type Internet use. Again, the surveys often simply swap the words ‘Internet use’ for ‘gambling’. Young's Diagnostic Questionnaire, for example, contains eight yes-or-no items drawn directly from the criteria used to identify pathological gamblers. One question asks: “Do you feel restless, moody, depressed, or irritable when attempting to cut down or stop Internet use?” Another asks, “Have you lied to family members, therapist, or others to conceal the extent of involvement with the Internet?” This survey was later expanded to a 20-item questionnaire, called the Internet Addiction Test (IAT) with a five-point scale so that subjects could indicate the extent to which they engage in behaviors that suggest addiction. For most of the surveys, researchers have established cutoff scores to

“Pathological gambling is excessive risk taking exaggerated to an especially destructive extreme.” This is the way Dr. Ted and Brad Klontz open their chapter on the destructive behavior that is gambling (Klontz, B., & Klontz, T, 2009). As the authors describe gambling is a habit that becomes like a drug as people, mostly men, continue to gamble to make themselves feel better about themselves or to escape their present reality. The biggest danger of this disorder is that it is one that people try to hide from others the most, and are very hesitant to admit that their gambling is an addiction.

Gambling is an entertainment that we all know about, and it is also well known by the “easy-addicted characteristic”. You must have seen or at least heard about some stories that is about gambling. No matter it’s a story about people become rich, or a family be ruined. “The National Council on

Another possible treatment for compulsive gambling would be cognitive-behavioral therapy. Cognitive-behavioral therapy is a goal-oriented psychotherapy treatment. Cognitive-behavioral therapy is generally short term. The treatment takes a practical approach on problem-solving. Sylvain, Ladouceur, and Boisvert, (1997) studied the effects of cognitive behavioral therapy on compulsive gambling. The treatment consisted of four components which were: (a) cognitive correction of inaccurate perceptions about gambling, (b) problem solving training, (c) social skills training, and (d) relapse prevention. The sample consisted of 29 men who were considered to have a pathological gambling problem. The results showed changes in the treatment group when maintaining therapeutic gains. The findings of the study suggested highly significant changes in the treatment group on the entire outcome measures tested for, follow ups also showed maintenance of therapeutic gains (Sylvain et al., 1997). One positive of cognitive-behavioral therapy is that is considered just as helpful as medication. One drawback of this approach was the fact it was a short term treatment a long term treatment may have had more of significant impact on the abstinence of

Gambling disorder involves the urge to gamble continuously despite financial and social consequences or a desire to stop. It is seen as being out of control and dominating the person’s life. It is important to note that most gambling is not associated with a mental disorder as it is often a form of recreation in many cultures around the world. “Gambling can be defined as placing something of value at risk in the hopes of gaining something of greater value” (Potenza, 2008). Pathological gambling affects approximately between 0.1 percent and 2 percent of the population (Petry, 2016).

     Gambling addiction is an issue found in numerous areas where gambling is legal. People who are addicted to gambling, also know as problem gamblers, face many health risks including depression, suicidal thoughts, loss of sleep, loss of appetite, migraine and anxiety in addition to marriage breakdown, problems at work and bankruptcy (9). About 2 percent of adults are thought to be problem gamblers (1). In today’s society this costly addiction is not often considered to be a common problem among those who gamble. Only a small amount of states in the U.S. give enough attention toward this rising problem of people that are sometimes even willing to commit crimes just to aid their addiction. In the past our

Patient 015 came to the compound one year ago exactly. The patient came pleading for help, saying that money has taken over. What was meant by this was that the individual suffered from a gambling addiction. The proper name, Compulsive Gambling or Gambling Disorder, should be taken serious. The victim of this mental illness wakes and goes to bed with one simple need; gambling. A person with this disorder will go countless days without eating or being productive. When the person gambles, a high will be created as if they were taking a prescription drug. The feeling of winning is the equivalent of that calming sensation that any drug user gets. “Desperate gambling on the Stock Exchange, wild

Gambling addiction is a major problem for people across the world and is even more of a problem for those who struggle with a drug and or alcohol addiction as well making them a cross addict. Gambling addictions can ruin lives by ruining relationships with friends, family or significant others, adds on unneeded stress for the addict, as well as financial stress by not being able to pay bills or pay their way to feed their gambling addiction. Many people do not think of gambling as an addictive disorder, they think that people can not become addicted to gambling since it is like playing games and putting money down on these games to possibly win more money that they put in. They think that they have the choice and power to stop gambling whenever they want, which is not the case at all for those who are addicted. This video was very informational since it was essentially like a documentary of these people who have dealt with gambling addiction, coming out and stating what it does to them personally, their family, how it affects everything in their life. These are real people with a real issue and not some handful of people saying what they think having a gambling addiction is like instead of being those who are actually living through the addiction and trying to recover with others in the community. They are helping others who may not understand the gambling addiction by telling them real life and personal stories to those who are still struggling with understanding the