Compulsive Gambling: A Case Study

Up to 90% of adults in Australia have gambled at some point in their life.more statistics The promises made, were lies, and the same errors relapsed over and over again.We will be waiting when you can tell yourself there’s so much more to life than just gambling.We will be waiting for you gamblers to take a step back and think about the love ones whom you are destroying, but when will this happen? and will it not re- occur?. We now so well the difficulties in limiting money and/or time spent on gambling, which leads to adverse consequences for the gambler, their family or friends and for the community. The latest research suggests that about one per cent of the population has a gambling problem. These ranges from increasing levels of debt,

“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

In " The Neurology of Free Will," Charles Duhigg puts a special importance on habits –their inner working and how they can change. Duhigg describes how habits work through the cycle of cue, routine, and reward. Angie Bachmann from being a bored housewife to losing all her money through uncontrollable gambling.

There is no specific treatment option that is more beneficial. However, there are a variety of treatment options available for gambling addiction such as Gambler’s Anonymous, which is a support group and psychotherapy that involves cognitive behavioral therapy. Family therapy or group meetings with professional counselors can assist family members. In addition, there is the National Problem Gambling Helpline Network and Gamblers Anonymous that help love ones with their gambling problems (www.casino.org). The medication that is used to treat compulsive gambling is antidepressants and mood stabilizers (www.mayoclinic).

The current analysis included 4121 individuals whose data was collected via the Quinte Longitudinal Study (QLS) over a period of five years (2006-2011) (Williams et al., 2015). The QLS gained ethics approval from the Human Subject Research Committee at the University of Lethbridge and was conducted with the purpose of furthering research and understanding on problem gambling and other behavioural addictions. The authors of this paper were given permission to conduct the current analyses from all those involved in the QLS. Essential demographic information is presented in Table 1.

There are many different forms of gambling. Whether one is betting on a lottery ticket, a horse race, a sports game, or slot machines, to name a few, they are spending money with unfavourable odds of winning that money back. Many people cannot control when they walk away from gambling, as they will continue to bet in an attempt to win back the lost money. The issue is - for the most part - that the losses continue to increase. In Victoria, in the fiscal year of 2000-01, gamblers lost a total of $14.38 billion, including $2.36 billion on the leading cause of losses, poker machines (11). This can result in problem gambling. Based on different surveys in Canada, it is estimated that approximately 1 in 20 Canadians either have a gambling problem, or are at serious risk of obtaining one. 1 in 20 Canadians adds up to 760,800 problem gamblers (12). In the US, an estimated 3 million people are problem gamblers, and another 15 million are at risk of developing gambling problems (13). Problem gambling would not be as severe of an issue if it only harmed the gambler themselves, as it is their choice to gamble and displays a only a lack of self control. The issue is that people are indirectly affected by problem gambling. It can result in problems with personal relationships, neglect of ones family, bankruptcy, and stress related disorders such as depression, or insomnia (14). Problem gambling also has a positive correlation with crime. This means that the more problem gamblers there are, the more crimes are being committed. Statistics from a published survey show that only 3.3% of responsible, low frequency gamblers have been convicted of committing a crime, while a staggering 28.3% of problem gamblers have been convicted at least once (15). These numbers show that problem gamblers do not only harm themselves, but the consequences have a continuous ripple effect,

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

Data also indicates high levels of suicidality, with 25% of pathological gamblers in England reporting a suicide attempt in their lifetime, and 20% describing past-year ideation [4]. Adverse consequences extend beyond the individual, and include impacts on families through debt, relationship dysfunction [9] and domestic violence (DV). A recent evidence synthesis [10] suggests 37% of pathological gamblers report DV perpetration (38% report victimisation), and rates of gambling disorders in perpetrator samples that are also high (11%). In the UK, gambling problems predict overuse of NHS services including primary care (2-fold increase relative to no problems), hospital inpatient care (5-fold increase), and psychological counselling (8-fold increase) [4]. Notwithstanding these public health impacts, and overrepresentation in health care services, there is limited awareness of gambling problems and low levels of identification in these contexts. In the context of increased gambling participation and public health consequences [11], [12], there is strong need for initiatives to minimise excessive gambling and related harms. These initiatives include provision of psychological treatments with demonstrated efficacy

A pathological addiction is a strong habit or compulsion that continues regardless of the obvious harmful consequences, like pathological gambling or PG. PG has gained increased global attention from clinicians and researchers over the past few decades, due to expanding gambling opportunities. About 0.2% to 5.3% of adults worldwide are affected by gambling disorders (Jazaeri & Habil, 2012). There are various distinct treatments that have been favorably evaluated, such as cognitive behavioral and brief treatment models and pharmacological interventions. Gambling disorders are comorbid, normally seen with other mental health and substance use disorders. As of today, many authors have noted that is

“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.

Research suggests that there are relationships between problem gambling, borderline personality disorder, anti-social personality disorder, depression, anxiety, bulimia nervosa and substance abuse disorders (Fischer & Smith, 2008; MacLaren, Fugelsang, Harrigan, & Dixon, 2011; Sacco, Cunningham-Williams, Ostmann, & Spitznagel, 2008). The body of research that suggests the relationship and co-morbidities of problem gambling and the above mentioned psychological disorders are primarily linked to shared personality traits, especially the high scores in neuroticism and high impulsivity (MacLaren, Best, Dixon, & Harrigan, 2011; MacLaren, Fugelsang, Harrigan, & Dixon, 2011; Sacco, Cunningham-Williams, Ostmann, & Spitznagel, 2008). Further investigation into problem gambling and co-morbidity is needed, to fully determine the extent of the relationships and to explore the possibility that individuals with gambling problem could be gambling as a form of escapism to avoid instances of anxiety and depression, and it is a maladaptive coping mechanism for some individual’s, making it the symptom rather than the cause in some cases (Bagby, et al., 2007; Myrseth, Pallesen, Molde, Johnsen, & Lorvik,

While the mechanisms of addiction are still being investigated, there is a general consensus amongst academics that abnormal prefrontal cortex activity during reward processing may be the cause of problem gambling. (Oberg, Christie & Tata, 2011) The reason for this is that the frontal cortex is responsible for informed decision making and therefore, if this area is functionally interrupted, gamblers may be unable to differentiate high from low risk in their behaviours thus making them prone to addiction (Oberg, Christie & Tata, 2011) When this distorted perception of reality is mixed with the consumption of alcohol, the result may prove to be fatal. To further complicate the issue, gambling generally happens in licenced premises such as casinos and pubs where the consumption of alcohol is not only permitted, but is encouraged. This leads to the person’s emotions to become exacerbated which could cause the gambling issue to have even more detrimental effects than if the individual was

Gambling has many different types of activities. It is not always obvious when someone is addicted to gambling. Many factors can contribute to a gambling addiction, including desperation for money, the thrills and highs which brings the experience of desire. Whether you bet on card, sports, roulette, poker, or slots gambling can strain relationships, interfere with work and lead to financial issues. You might even do things that you may never thought you would do, like stealing money from family members or even strangers. Studies place the total number of compulsive gamblers at about 4.4 million, about equal to the nation’s ranks of hard-core drug addicts (Gold & Ferrell

To assess risk based on gambling we will use 10 questions from the NORC DSM-IV Screen for Gambling Problems (NODS). Past scores of this test have been very reliable, with scores r= 0.99 and 0.98, by Gerstein et. al (1999). This test assesses 10 different categories of risk taking while gambling (preoccupation, tolerance, withdrawal, loss of control, escape, chasing, lying, illegal acts, risked relationships, and bailout). To account for the difference in the number of test questions we will use one question from each category. In accordance with the measurement will use with the original scale we will rate high risk behaviors as those that occur in three to four of the previously mentioned categories, moderate risk as those that have behaviors occurring in one to two categories, and low risk as no problem in any category. To make these scores compatible with the ones previously mentioned, we will assign high risk behaviors six points, moderate risk two points, and low risk zero

     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