Gambling Addiction

7 Key excerpts on "Gambling Addiction"

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  eBook - ePub

  Comparative Psychology for Clinical Psychologists and Therapists

  What Animal Behavior Can Tell Us about Human Psychology

  • Daniel C. Marston, Terry L. Maple(Authors)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • Jessica Kingsley Publishers

    (Publisher)

  6 GAMBLING PROBLEMS Introduction

  Gambling is prevalent throughout the world. It is an activity that often involves a great deal of money changing hands. There are many, many people who lose a great deal with gambling and many people who gain a great deal. Gambling itself is not necessarily a problem and is legal in many countries. However, gambling becomes a problem and becomes the arena of mental health professionals when it becomes pathological. There are many different definitions of what makes up pathological gambling. Most of the main definitions emphasize that pathological gambling is distinguished by gambling behaviors that result in an individual having significant damage to the personal, financial, family, professional, and/or legal aspects of their lives (Blaszczynski and Nower 2002). There are millions of people throughout the world who find their lives in a great deal of turmoil because they have developed Gambling Addiction.

  For humans, Gambling Addiction is a problem because of what people lose. Like drugs and alcohol, there is a difference between typical gambling and Gambling Addiction. Most people who gamble are able to control it. They bet on some horse races, play casino games, try the slot machines, or place wagers on sporting events, but walk away when they are in danger of losing too much. Problem gamblers, those with addictions, will keep playing until they have nothing left to lose. And those losses have a much more direct effect on their lives and their family’s lives than alcohol and drug addictions. When someone has drug or alcohol problems they may still be able to cover up the effects, at least for a while, so losses do not become prevalent. But gambling involves money and only money. So, once a person starts losing, their cars, homes, and college funds will start disappearing almost immediately. Preventing this sort of thing from happening is where counselors and therapists come in.

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  Gambling and Problem Gambling in Britain

  • Bob Erens, Laura Mitchell, Jim Orford, Kerry Sproston, Clarissa White(Authors)
  • 2004(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  The cognitive element in this cognitive-social-behavioural process model of problem gambling is a particularly important one. A great deal of modern psychological research has focused on cognitive biases and illusions which constitute one of the few topic areas unique to the gambling field: there is nothing quite like it in the literature on drinking for example. It is also a source of debate and friction within the wider realm of discourses about gambling. Historians such as Chinn (1991) and Reith (1999) have regretted the tendency to ‘pathologise’ gamblers and to assume that gambling is always irrational. In their accounts they have stressed the rational, socially consonant side to gambling, and the positive mental abilities and personal characteristics associated with gambling. Social scientists and close observers of gambling, such as Goffman (1967) and Rosecrance (1988) also emphasised admirable qualities associated with gambling such as rational decision-making, play, skill, and courage. It is perhaps foolish to think that research could help us choose between these two opposing facets to gambling. It might be better to think of them as two competing sets of experiences, attributions or constructions, constantly in dialectical relationship one to the other, always with the possibility that one side of gambling will gain ascendancy at the expense of the other. Certainly both were in evidence in the accounts given by the participants in the qualitative study. Whilst acknowledging the out-of-control nature of their gambling, some respondents spoke at length about the careful preparation they engaged in before betting, the judgements required, the choice exercised or skill displayed. Orientation towards skill and choice varied considerably, however, and not everyone put much preparation or planning into betting selections. Equally, there was evidence of illusory planning based on a misunderstanding of randomness; for example detailed study of previous winning numbers on the NL.

  What kind of addiction is problem gambling?

  Where do we now stand on the question, raised in Chapter 3

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  Gambling Cultures

  Studies in History and Interpretation

  • Jan McMillen, Jan McMillen(Authors)
  • 2005(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  In this chapter, it is argued that this view relies upon a strictly limited interpretation of the evidence. It is claimed that the view that heavy gambling is pathological is recent in origin and changing in character, that a pathology of gambling as an addiction has not been demonstrated, and that the similarities between drug addiction and heavy gambling are overstated. The movement to medicalise gambling as an addiction is not based on sound empirical evidence. Thus the inadequate metaphor of gambling as compulsive is replaced by another inadequate metaphor of gambling as addictive. What is required is a new, non-medical metaphor.

  THE MOVE TO VIEW HEAVY GAMBLING AS PATHOLOGICAL

  Throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, gambling was viewed as a vice and heavy gambling as a sin. The change from ‘gambling as sin’ to ‘gambling as sick’ was associated with the development of the psychoanalytic perspective on human nature. Initially, the psychoanalytic view was that over-indulgence in activities such as gambling and drinking (alcohol) should be regarded as examples of mania. Later, heavy gambling came to be regarded as a compulsion, and the term ‘compulsive gambler’ is one which is readily understood and widely used in western society. However, in the decade following 1980, it became clear to the medical community that heavy gambling does not have the characteristics of a classical compulsive neurosis (Dickerson 1984; Maze 1987). Consequently, there has been a widespread move, especially among psychiatrists, to see excessive gambling from a different perspective. There has been a clear trend for medical opinion to shift from the concept of problem gambling as a disorder of impulse control (compulsive gambling) to problem gambling as an addiction. This change is evident in the criteria for diagnosis of pathological gambling set out in the diagnostic and statistical manual (DSM) of the American Psychiatric Association. In DSM III (1980), pathological gambling was described in terms of impulse control and listed with other impulsive behaviours such as kleptomania, whereas in the revised edition, DSM IIIR (1987), pathological gambling is defined in terms of criteria which are very similar to those for alcohol and drug dependence (see Table 12.1

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  Handbook of Addictive Disorders

  A Practical Guide to Diagnosis and Treatment

  • Robert Holman Coombs(Author)
  • 2009(Publication Date)
  • Wiley

    (Publisher)

  The DSM-IV-TR classifies gambling as an impulse control disorder, grouped with such behaviors as fire setting and pica. The concept that gambling is an addictive behavior is deliberately sidestepped. Yet, as Table 6.1 illustrates, problem gambling and pharmacological addictions share substantial behaviors. Often, there effects are indistinguishable. Equally confusing to researchers are suitable ways of measuring the effects of treatment on the problem gambler’s family, social network, and society. Often, reductions in these harms are difficult to quantify. Clinicians need to be aware of all of the difficulties researchers face because they will also face similar problems in clinical practice (McCown & Chamberlain, 2004). Until these and other difficulties are answered, research in gambling will continue at a slow rate (Castellani, 2000). Given this climate, it is not surprising that research-oriented clinicians are steered toward more friendly areas of psychiatric research. Certainly, there are exceptions, including the work of outstanding clinician-researchers, such as Lesieur, Lorenz, Rosenthal, Schaffer, Taber, and Volberg to name a few Americans. Furthermore, research has flourished from clinicians in Britain, Australia, and other locations. However, most interventions for problem gambling that we presently use today have poor empirical validation. This forces the clinician to rely primarily on the experiences of other treatment providers

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  Pathways to Excessive Gambling

  A Societal Perspective on Youth and Adult Gambling Pursuits

  • Charlotte Fabiansson(Author)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  The research shows that gambling problems are related to a combination of psychological and social problems, where gambling pursuits might be used to compensate for other difficulties the person experiences (Blaszczynski and Nower 2002; Marks and Lesieur 1992; Getty, Watson and Frisch 2000). According to the 2007 Adult Gambling Prevalence Study (Nova Scotia Department of Health Promotion and Protection 2008: 123) 6 there emerged a difference between problem gamblers and at-risk gamblers on the one hand and those at no risk for gambling problems on the other hand (non-problem or non-gamblers). Problem gamblers and, to a lesser extent, at-risk gamblers were more likely to have mental health issues and life problems affecting their well being than the non-problem gamblers and non-gamblers. Such combinations of problems were seen in the case studies. Some of the gamblers were smokers and the ability to smoke while gambling was highly appreciated. Smoking has become more and more restricted in public places and while the laws changed in 2007, smoking was still allowed in clubs at the time of this research. Where smoking and social isolation were given as reasons to gamble by the females, the reasons for male gamblers related to the family situation and difficulties in coping with children

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  The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Disordered Gambling

  • David C. S. Richard, Alex Blaszczynski, Lia Nower(Authors)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Wiley-Blackwell

    (Publisher)

  Gambling may be maintained and reinforced by many of the same factors. People continue to gamble because they enjoy winning money, may need to win money to recoup losses or pay bills, and/or may feel happier and more relaxed once they are gambling. Also, as mentioned earlier, there may be various social reinforcements (e.g., a feeling of engagement with others, a sense of bravado). It is, therefore, important that the clinician understands the consequences of gambling for the person and what factors are maintaining it.

  Once the behavior has been assessed and the therapist has identified the situational factors and consequences that might be maintaining the behavior, the usual next step is to develop appropriate and realistic behavioral goals for change. For some people, this may be abstinence from gambling, but for others it may involve controlled gambling or a reduction to a level that does not contribute to harm. It is important that the goals are realistic. Some people who have become highly dependent on gambling as a source of reinforcement may find it particularly difficult to cease gambling in the short term. Although organizations such as GA often advocate abstinence, recent research (e.g., Dowling & Smith, 2007; Ladouceuer, 2010) suggest that it may be beneficial to consider a variety of goals. Ladouceuer, for example, has shown that if one advertises an intervention as ‘controlled’ gambling, it may be more successful in attracting clients and maintaining them in treatment. Interestingly, many of those who report desiring to control their gambling, may become abstinent anyway (i.e., even if this was initially not their primary goal for treatment). Earlier work by McConaghy, Blaszczynski, and Frankova (1991), however, suggests that those who achieve goals may often differ from those who achieve abstinence. In a follow-up study of 120 gamblers, it was found that those with lower scores on various measures of psychopathology (anxiety, depression) were more likely to be successful, so that it may be that controlled gambling is only an effective option for those who are already reasonably well adjusted (Griffiths, 1995). In either case, goals should be of the nature that they can be tracked over time and, as documented below, self-monitoring and ongoing support is an essential part of achieving behavioral control (see Blaszczynski, 1998).

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  Drugs without the hot air

  Making sense of legal and illegal drugs

  • David Nutt(Author)
  • 2020(Publication Date)
  • UIT Cambridge

    (Publisher)

  † President Obama, who has admitted to cocaine use before he came to office.

  Some recent work has identified the neurological similarities between drug addictions and other types of behavioural addiction, such as compulsive eating or gambling, which seem to involve the same psychological and biological mechanisms in the brain. Researchers such as Jim Orford have suggested that † we ought to think of drug addiction as a special form of behavioural addiction, which can occur with any (initially) pleasurable activity, from shopping to exercise. In some ways, this takes us full circle, to a pre-19th -century model of excessive behaviour – drugs do have some special qualities, but the mechanisms by which they can become the most powerful drives in people’s lives are similar to those involved in other pleasurable and repeated activities. These mechanisms are both psychological and biological and are central to how our brains work.

  The brain mechanisms of addiction

  Addiction involves both the pleasure chemicals in the brain and the processes by which we learn repeated behaviours. This process is very complicated, involving many mechanisms and different neurotransmitters. Figure 9.2 shows some of the different elements involved. On the left, we can see the positive elements of a drug experience – it might create pleasure, reduce suffering, lay down powerful memories or reveal a new perspective that seems particularly meaningful.

  Figure 9.2: The various elements of addiction.

  On the right are the elements that drive us back to repeat the experience. Being impulsive – thinking primarily about short-term effects rather than long-term consequences – or being generally prone to repetitious, compulsive behaviour can lead to a lack of control, which makes it especially difficult to resist the desire to re-experience the positive elements of the drug. Alongside these elements of habit are the unpleasant effects of withdrawal, which are at best uncomfortable and at worst life-threatening. The “pull” factors on the left, combined with the “push” factors on the right, create an overwhelming sense of wanting, which can overpower someone’s conscious knowledge of the damage that a drug might do to them.

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