Gambling Essay

Addiction can alter the mind in many ways and change a person’s outlook on the life ahead of them. In the story, “Bandit” we meet a father who impacts the life of his family for the worse because of his gambling addiction, also known as ludomania. This extreme obsession can have a variation of effects to different people. It could be an influence of a mental health issue like, anxiety or depression. Not only does this type of addiction change a person mentally, but also the life and people around them. The word addiction itself can bring along the idea that it has to be a drug or alcohol. Addiction can be to anything really. It could be drugs, alcohol, eating, stealing, and in this case, gambling.

If addiction is put in the disease category, it alleviates shame and gets people to seek treatment sooner. Addiction can be referred to as a matter of choice. If someone chooses to be addicted to something, they make the choice to not put an end to the use of the substance. An addiction is not something that can be forced upon an individual. Self-medication is the effort and ability to help oneself to better themselves, when it comes to their addiction. They find ways to replace the action, or they add other things thinking it will help them recover. The road to recovery is like a developmental process for the individuals that are suffering.

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.

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?”

“Las Vegas looks the way you'd imagine heaven must look at night” states New York Times best selling novelist, Chuck Palahniuk. (1) He has a point. Las Vegas is, in a way, an American Mecca -- a national tourist hotspot filled with resorts, gambling, shopping, dining, drinking, sporting, nightlife and most other things entertainment. Las Vegas is the fastest growing city and fastest growing job market in the United States. (source?) The city, a sort of massive adult carnival, is made up of elements largely alien to its native desert setting. For one, Vegas welcomes almost 40 million visitors per year, a number nearly seventy times the population of the city; but also its drinking water and food are largely imported

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 the broadest sense, addictive or pathological gambling is gambling behavior which causes disruptions in any major area of life: psychological, physical, social or vocational. Addictive gambling is sometimes referred to as the "hidden illness," because there are no visible physical symptoms. The American Psychological Association classifies compulsive gambling as a mental health disorder of impulse control. It is a chronic and progressive disease that is both diagnosable and treatable. About 2 to 4 percent of Americans have an active

Gambling disorders high comorbidity with substance-related disorders also points to a link between them. For example, over 73% of individuals with GD also report having an alcohol use disorder and over 38% report having a drug use disorder (Petry, Stinson

A person with a gambling addiction can have any of these 5 signs or all of them when they need to receive help. It can be difficult to confront a person with a gambling addiction, but it's in control of their life, and they need to seek the advice of a mental health

There is a controversy around the issue of whether addiction is a choice or a disease. Addiction is not an individual’s fault, but just their genetics’. Being an addict is the result of experiences and genetics and therefore an individual should not be blamed for their desire to feel pleasure by using a substance or behaviour. For this reason, gambling disorder is an addiction in the same sense as alcoholism and heroin dependence. Gambling disorder, alcoholism and heroin dependence are all forms of addiction that shares similar components and pattern; the biologic consequences, cause of genetics, and ability to recover. The changes in brain structure due to the use of substance or activity translates into psychological need for the excitement,

There are various forms of addiction. Addictive behaviors can include food, shopping, gambling, gaming, and pornography. Often addiction is only associated with substances and alcohol. The misunderstanding that addiction is limited to chemical dependence is unfortunate. Perhaps therefore addictions such as gambling and gaming are downplayed.

Kim and Grant (2001) also used naltrexone (an opioid antagonist) as a treatment for pathological gamblers and was effective. This is because it reduced the intensity of urges to gambling behavior when was given to patients in high doses. Other scholars, Eisen et al (2001) also investigated pathological gambling in twins and found out that they were similar in occurrence and severity of gambling problems. This supports the genetic and physiological aspects of the biological approach to explaining gambling.

     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

Like an alcohol or drug addiction, pathological gambling is a long-term disorder that tends to get worse without treatment. Even with treatment, it can be quite common to

Gambling "Gambling is defined as risking money or something of value on the outcome of an event involving chance when probability of winning or losing is less than certain. "[i] Over the past ten years, Ontario has undergone a dramatic change in gambling attitudes. Since the legalization of gambling in Ontario in 1994, there has been an explosion of gambling opportunities for the public.