Complusive Gambling Essay

“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

Each day, casinos are packed with gamblers. Whether it’s playing slot machines, table games, or betting on horse races, everyone is on a money mission. For some people, the love of casinos comes from the thrill of risk-taking, for others, it simply comes from wanting to have fun and enjoy themselves. While this all sounds like fun and games, it can wind up being extremely dangerous. Gambling addictions can develop quickly and when they do, everyone suffers except for casino corporations. Whether it be physical, mental, marital, or financial, there are numerous problems that accompany gambling addictions.

Gambling addiction also know as compulsive gambling is a type of impulse control disorder. (Healthyplace.com, 2008) It is a progressive disease that can wreck havoc on relationships, work, and finances.

Gambling can be done at a casino, racetrack, or online. Compulsive gambling addiction can lead to criminal behaviors. There are several phases in gambling. The winning phase lead gamblers to win several winnings, which leads them to believe that they will keep winning. The loosing phase often begins with bragging about their past wins and start gambling alone and begin to borrow money. The loosing phase leads to debts. The desperation phase can lead to suicidal thoughts, arrests, divorce and alcohol and drug abuse.

It is important to know if there is a link between gambling disorders and substance use because it can assist in finding treatment that works more effectively for comorbidity of these disorders. It is also important to note that it could also help figure out the neurological explanation to addiction because drugs can change the shape and processes of a brain, and gambling is a form of addiction that does not. Pathological gambling and substance abuse/ dependence have similar classifications. This paper will provide evidence to answer the question “what is relationship between gambling disorders and substance use in adults?”

“The state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene conducted a study before the first Maryland casino opened in 2010, and published it in 2011. They found that nearly 90 percent of Marylanders had gambled, and that 3.4 percent were either pathological gamblers or problem gamblers.” (Massimo) There has been numerous stories of addicted gamblers in debt, gamblers that have lost family and friends from their addictions. There was a man $400,000 in debt, his wife threw him out of the house and told him he could not see his kids again unless he gave up gambling. Also, another gambler went on a 48 hour binge without sleeping and barely eating. A woman faced a jail term for stealing $135,000 to feed her gambling

Based on information from the National Opinion Research Center (NORC), the National Gambling Impact Study Commission (NGISC) states that there are two and a half million individuals who fall into a state defined as a pathological gambler, another three million are considered problem gamblers, and roughly fifteen million more could be considered “at-risk” (NORC, 1999). A pathological gambler is one who has a severe uncontrollable urge to gamble despite harmful negative consequences or a desire to stop. This project proposes to address the need to keep a casino patron from developing a pathological or compulsive gambling problem. The project will entail investigating the driving factors for a person gambling themselves into problems and

In 2011, Nady el-Guebaly, Tanya Mudry, Joseph Zohar, Hermano Tavares, and Marc Potenza aimed to use DSM-V to describe an emerging focus on addiction and compulsion factors in the research of pathological gambling (PG). They examined the possible overlying of addiction and compulsivity relative to PG, substance use disorders (SUDs), and obsessive compulsive disorders (OCD), and treatment suggestions. To collect data, they conducted a meticulous literature review of existing evidence for the recommended reclassification of pathological gambling as an addiction. From their results, it was concluded that PG is more like SUDs than OCD. Also, although addictions and OCD share certain similarities, they are neurobiologically different, have lower comorbidity frequencies, and responds differently to treatments. Regarding recognized behavioral addictions, pathological gambling seems to be the only disorder with sufficient evidence for it to be progressed into classifying as an

Relating to the issue of subgroups, pathological gambling was originally classified as an impulse control disorder by the DSM-IV-TR (APA, 2000), though, based on its criteria similar to substance dependence, some researchers preferred to consider it a behavioural addiction (Blanco et al., 2001; Potenza et al., 2002). Goudriaan et al. (2006) provide a similar argument, stating that pathological gambling and alcohol dependence share common EF deficits, and it has since been amended to be a behavioural addiction the in the DSM-V (APA, 2013). The divisive topic of screening and diagnosis could have serious consequences on the quality of care, or form of therapy, a pathological gambler may receive or decide to enter. Whether they legitimately

In 2013, the release of the updated Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) added gambling disorder to the category titled Substance-Related and Addictive Disorders. (The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 2013) In the previous edition of the DSM, gambling, along with other behavioral addictions were in the Impulse Control Disorders category of the DSM-III and DSM-IV (Clark, 2014). Behavioral Addictions are said to be around for hundreds of years. For example, gambling was part of daily life in ancient Greece. (Hekster, 2002). In the first edition of American Psychiatric Association in 1812, there was detailed mention of excessive sexual desire (Rush, 1812). Yet, behavioral

“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.

There are many reasons as to why there are such varying results in the current body of research surrounding the notion of a relationship between problem gambling and personality traits. One of the reasons explored in some papers, is the fact that there are possible subtypes of problem gamblers, with each subtype producing different results in personality tests, showing that there are further differences within the population of individuals with gambling issues (MacLaren, Best, Dixon, & Harrigan, 2011; Myrseth, Pallesen, Molde, Johnsen, & Lorvik, 2009). The differences in the results of the subgroups indicate that it may not be feasible to generalise problem gambling and certain personality traits (MacLaren, Best, Dixon, & Harrigan, 2011).

To avoid the negative feelings associated with withdrawal, the addict continues to gamble. (+) Orford et al. (1996) found that gamblers and alcoholics both experience similar withdrawal symptoms and levels of perceived strength of addiction. (-) self-report methods (-) addicts are likely to lie (-) Potenza et al. (2003) found, from MRI scans, differences in blood flow to the brains of non-gamblers and gamblers when watching a gambling tape compared to a happy or sad film. (-) cause and effect RELAPSE Gamblers experience similar withdrawal symptoms to addicts with substance addictions, so a theory stands that gamblers relapse in order to stop the withdrawal symptoms. (-) Ciarrochi et al. (1987) found gamblers often have other addictions, such as alcoholism or shopping addictions. Cues associated with the behaviour, i.e. chips or dice, often cause a relapse of dopamine that the original gambling behaviour did. This causes prediction of a reward, which can cause a relapse. (-) Reductionism: biological approach reduces addiction, a complex phenomenon, to simple terms.

(2006) assigned participants into one of the following groups: (a) a referral to Gamblers Anonymous, (b) a cognitive behavioral workbook, and (c) 8 sessions of individual cognitive behavioral therapy. The participants for the study consisted of a total of 231 pathological gamblers. The results, like Sylvain et al., (1997), found cognitive behavioral therapy to increase abstinence from gambling behaviors. The study found individual cognitive behavioral therapy sessions lead to more progress than the group which only received the cognitive behavioral workbook. The group receiving cognitive behavioral therapy sessions also was shown to reduce gambling more than those who went to gamblers anonymous (Petry et at.,

     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