Gambling Addiction

Gambling is betting any amount of money on a uncertain outcome on a Win/Lose basis, it can range from betting on sport games to even relationships (how long the relationship will last) etc. Gambling addiction or compulsive gambling affects more than 15 million people in America alone, 3 million of which have been diagnosed as severe problem gamblers, gambling addicts or pathological gamblers. There are over 250,000 problem gamblers in the UK.

There are many symptoms to identifying a problem gambler.

These include

• Increasing the amount of time and money spent on gambling
• Constantly thinking about gambling in your free time
• Chasing losses, investing larger amounts of money to try and win back the smaller amounts.
• Continuing to gamble despite consequences such as debt, bills and other financial commitments.
• Feeling a sense of euphoria or happiness during the time in which the person is gambling.
• Borrowing money or finding other ways to obtain money to gamble.
• Denial of how much the person has lost and only mentioning winnings.

Problem gambling is a serious addiction which affects the sufferer physically, mentally and financially; it can also affect the sufferer socially with their relationships with others. It can lead to anxiety, depression and is known to lead people to contemplate suicide.

Reasons for gambling

The majority of the public ask the question “Why would you gamble?” and “When you win, why don’t you take the money and stop?”

Most people start gambling because of greed, the desire to possess more than the person needs or deserves. Money is very influential as it decides the financial quality of your life so it’s pretty obvious why someone would want to gain more money and some do this through gambling for that reason.  Some use it to escape the stresses of daily life.Others gamble because of a low self-esteem, gambling makes you feel better especially if you win and when you lose it affects the esteem level more bringing it lower and some continue gambling for the sense of that good feeling that it brought and so begins a cycle of a problem.

Many are lured into poker, there are various types of poker but the most popular is Texas Hold em. You receive 2 cards and there are four stages, pre flop, flop, the turn and the river. Each stage the person has a choice whether to make a bet to make others fold or to try and get more money, checking which is seeing the rest of the hand providing no one else bets and folding which is laying down your hands and you are out of that hand. This type of gambling provides choice and gives the gambler a sense of control, this is particularly inviting to the gamblers with low self-esteem which are living in a world they feel they have no control.

Adrenaline concept

The excitement of gambling also draws people in as when you gamble you release adrenaline into your system, it is secreted in your glands in your body when there are high levels of excitement or stress. The adrenaline puts you into a “fight or flight” mode when you are winning you will feel great and a overwhelming euphoria can ensue, most want to continue this feeling so play on. When you are losing the adrenaline will either make you flee or play on dependant on personality and willpower. When you are winning, history has taught us that human beings will always want more and it takes a great deal of willpower to resist playing on when you are on a “Winning” or “Lucky” streak.

You can read about the adrenaline at:

Click to access The-Adrenaline-Rush-Of-Winning-And-Losing-%28ebook%29.pdf

Online gambling 

Online gambling first occurred in 1996 when Wagerlogic finished its first licence ; Intercasino, since then there are now over 2000 sites operating taking real money wagers. According to statistics, Internet gambling has doubled every year since 1997 and in 2001 it was valued at 2bn. Many more people have started to gamble as they can do it from the convenience of their own home where people can keep their addiction secret. Casino sites lure people with “Welcome bonuses” which are on the vast majority of the sites. When you win, some sites have a waiting period to withdraw around about 5 days and within that time you can reverse the withdrawal and take back winnings to gamble with. That can create addiction. The number of compulsive gamblers in general has risen but those that are female have dramatically risen due to mainly online bingo. Women are targeted into the sites with influential colour schemes such as Barbie pink and have male pin ups, making the gambling seem fun, enjoyable and inviting.

You can read about the uprising of female gamblers at:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jan/17/women-gamblers-online-addiction

My Experience

I have a problem with online poker  and have lost a considerable amount. At first I was winning a considerable amount but then I suffered a bad beat which was a pair of Aces (best hand pre flop) vs a pair of 3’s (considered to be a bad hand pre flop for All-in) The person with 3’s hits another 3 and I suffer my first loss. From there it spiralled as I would invest more money to chase what I had lost and not been in the right frame of mind and luck not been on my side I would lose. I would constantly think about playing, lose much sleep playing late into the night and actually borrowing money off STL sites such as Wonga.com. It also affected me socially as I would avoid socialising to gamble more. The cycle would continue to the extent where I was in debt. It took its toll on me physically as I was tired every day, mentally as I got into a state of depression about the amount lost and stressed as well. I believe online gambling is far more dangerous than casino gambling this is because of my concept of “Fantasy money”. Fantasy money is the money you see on screen, you are not physically holding it or possessing it, it’s just figures on a screen that you wish to increase. The money is not in your account; it’s in the casino account in cyberspace. Therefore, there is little attachment to this money and the person may make decisions they wouldn’t do on the outside world with the money present such as the decision to go “All in” or “chase” cards which can result in heavy losses. The money on screen only develops meaning when it’s no longer there to gamble with and the realisation of reality occurs. In my opinion, I would suggest not to try gambling at all, no matter what your nature is as greed is a powerful emotion.

Gambling Help + recovery

Most of the gambling sites now have installed as they call them “safeguards” in which a player can set daily, weekly and monthly deposits but in my opinion a problem gambler would rarely use them. Most sites have installed the option of self-exclusion which means the gambler cannot access the site for a limited period of 6 months or more.

Recovery isnt always easy but finding things to occupy the time you would have otherwised gambled helps alot. Its relatively easy to quit but resisting slipping back into it requires will and determination.

http://www.gamcare.org.uk/    – gives support to addicts with 1 to 1 chats offering advice, it has forums which share the stories of other people also suffering. I would recommend Gamcare as it helped me through my ordeal. There are also many other sites and programmes targeted to deal with problem gambling.

Cognitive therapy is very useful to help problem gamblers with such things a four step programmes which help the addict change the way they think about gambling.

The British medical association wants gambling to be a recognised addiction in the NHS, and the money the gambling industry, through the Responsibility gambling trust, pays into treatment programmes – £3.6m in 2007 – raised to at least £10m annually.

You can read more about problem gambling at the following sites:

http://www.divisiononaddictions.org/html/publications/shafferinternetgambling.pdf

http://www.helpguide.org/mental/gambling_addiction.htm

Thank you for reading my post.

 

Schizophrenia and Stigma

Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder which affects the thought process, behaviour and emotion of the sufferer. It is estimated that it affects 7 per thousand in the adult population and there is around 24 million people worldwide that have been diagnosed with the mental illness. Most develop the illness in their late teens or 20’s with the onset of early symptoms.

 

Symptoms

There are many symptoms of the illness. “Positive” symptoms include delusions, hallucinations, racing thoughts. Delusions are most commonly a firm belief or experience which is not shared by general reality. This can lead to paranoia, thinking that people are out to harm you. Delusions of grandeur when they think they are someone famous or important and find it hard to be convinced otherwise. Hallucinations can come in many forms and can affect all your senses. It can be visual which is seeing things which others cannot, it can be auditory, hearing things that others cannot and can even be sense of smell or touch which can be affected. Thought disorder affects the way you think, ideas can be construed and not make any sense to others. As a result, communication with others can become difficult and may lead to isolation or loneliness. “Negative” symptoms are the lack of emotional responses and thought process. Symptoms include apathy, social withdrawal, need to be protected, inability to focus and can show little interest in things. Schizophrenia can also affect a lot of cognitive functions such as memory and attention.

Causes of Schizophrenia

There is not a definite cause for the illness but experts agree it’s a combination of the genes that the person inherits and the environment the person is exposed to.

Stigma

Schrizophrenia is not a split or multiple personality disorder, this is one of the leading misconceptions about the illness. Sufferers tend to be viewed by the public to have violent tendencies and are a danger to society. A limited number of sufferers are dangerous. The media publishes the strange and horrifying stories of crimes of violence committed by those with mental illnesses. This has scarred a social stigma about Schizophrenics been violent, dangerous and need to be controlled. There is fear in the unknown.  Most sufferers are not violent and the only danger they are to themselves as 40% of sufferers will try and commit suicide at least once. Some religious sects see people who suffer from mental illness and judge it as God’s punishment for previous sins of the person or family.

This video conveys the idea of the fear of the unknown.

Time has progressed and knowledge and understanding in mental health has developed compared to the views shared 100 years ago. In 1910, Winston Churchill wrote to the prime minister, Herbert Asquinth, he conveyed his contemporary attitudes arguing for the mass sterilisation of the people who suffer from mental illness. He warned that ” feeble-minded and insane classes” constituted “ a danger which is impossible to exaggerate” and that “the source from which the stream of madness is fed should be cut off and sealed up before another year has passed.”  This is no longer a view held in mainstream debate.

Medication and stabilisation of the illness

In the 1950’s Anti-Psychotic drugs were developed and have been proven to effectively deal with the “positive” symptoms of the illness. Most of the symptoms can be controlled by the drugs in a matter of days or weeks. It usually takes a few months to achieve a stable condition. However there are many side effects of the drugs can occur such as drowsiness, skin rashes, rapid heartbeat, sensitivity to the sun and other effects. These are minor effects. Major effects include restlessness, rigidity, muscle spasms, tremors and other effects. ECT- Electro convulsive treatment was developed in 1938 and has been refined over the years to make it safer and more humane. Patient is put to sleep, given a muscle relaxer and a small electric current is applied to the patients temples. This produces a seizure. (Andreasen, The Broken Brain, p. 264). This treatment is issued to those who do not respond properly to the drugs. Cognitive therapy has also proven very effective in combination with controlled drugs, talking the sufferer through their problems and showing them ways to deal with their illness themselves. For an example of cognitive therapy visit:

http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mentalhealthinfoforall/treatments/cbt.aspx

Unfortunately not everyone gets to have cognitive therapy, psychiatrists will often issue drugs before addressing anything else.

In conclusion, not enough education about the illness has been provided to the general public so 100 years on since Churchill’s letter, people still share the stigma towards Schizophrenics.

For more information on Schizophrenia Visit both sites:

http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/mh-sm/pubs/schizophrenia-schizophrenie/index-eng.php

http://www.schizophrenia.com/szfacts.htm