Is the addiction to gambling always a problem?

There are three common types of gamblers: professional, social and problematic. Keep in mind that the problematic often refers to themselves as social or professional, and they can pretend to be so.

Professional players are the rarest type of all available. To earn money, they rely on their knowledge, skills, experience, but not on luck. They completely control time, money and energy - all that is spent on gambling.

The social type believes that gambling is a form of entertainment, they also provide full control over time, money and energy, that is, for all that they spend on gambling. They believe that the cost of gambling is payment for entertainment.

Problem players and addiction to excitement

Problem dependency implies constant participation in the process, despite the negative consequences. Players may have a problem or situation that completely escapes control. Problematic is the participation in gambling, when the habitual rhythm of life is violated, values, priorities change. If you are too enthusiastic about such activities and spend all available resources on it, do not get enough sleep, serious consequences, such as absenteeism at work, lies to the family, it is obvious that dependence on gambling is already a huge problem for you.

Dependence on gambling is an impulse disorder when a person can not control his impulses that push him to the gambling table, despite, for example, that the problems in his life appear more and more, and the lives of close people because of experiences have ceased to be normal .

Symptoms of dependence

Although there are no obvious symptoms or physical signs of dependence on gambling, unlike, for example, problems such as alcohol drugs, there are still some red flags that signal a problem.

• A person tries to hide his addiction from surrounding people, to make it a secret.
• Feeling the thrill of big bets.
• Gambling is a way to hide from problems.
• A person sits at the gaming table, even when he does not have money, and the debts have accumulated already considerable.
• Having a family and friends who are worried about your addiction.
• Continues to play for money, despite the consequences.
• The presence of inadequate behavior or bad mood.

What causes dependence on gambling?

Often, many things contribute to the development of gambling, including biological, genetic and environmental factors. Dependent players may notice that they are constantly in need of money, seek to get the thrill of gambling, looking for the social status of a successful player.

Treatment of gambling

As with other addictions, breaking this cycle, breaking this circle can be very difficult. Feeling how hard it is for you to return money that you lost can exacerbate the problem. Of course, quitting gambling is not so easy, but still it can be done. There are three main methods that help patients overcome their dependence on gambling.

These include:

1. Psychotherapy, including cognitive-behavioral therapy, which focuses on the formation of skills that can change thoughts and behavior.
2. Medications such as antidepressants and mood stabilizers can be useful for patients who have other mental disorders that accompany their problem with games, or the obsessive-compulsive disorder syndrome. In addition, some drugs that are known as antagonist drugs that are effective in the treatment of drug addiction may also be useful in the therapy of some patients with gambling addiction.
3. Anonymous self-help groups can be an extremely useful part of the treatment, as well as prevent relapse.