Compulsive gambling is an addiction. Compulsive gambling destroys homes, marriages, and relationships. Gamblers also resort to crime to support their addiction. Compulsive gambling can also cause medical problems and it also leads to death. Like other addictions compulsive gambling can also lead people down the wrong path in life. Compulsive gambling is just like a drug or alcohol addiction.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Section One
There is a distinct difference in the gambling traits between men and woman. Males were more likely to have gambling problems than females. Compulsive gambling usually begins in early adolescence in men, and between the ages twenty and forty in women. It is more common in adults living within fifty miles of a casino. Compulsive gambling is a brain disease that seems to be similar to disorders such as alcoholism and drug addiction. These disorders likely involve problems with the part of the brain involved with behaviors such as eating and sex. This part of the brain is sometimes called the “pleasure center” or dopamine reward pathway. In people who develop compulsive gambling, occasional gambling leads to a gambling habit. Stressful situations can worsen gambling problems (Medline).
Children of compulsive gamblers are at a greater risk than others for developing gambling problems themselves. One study found that fifty percent of the children of compulsive gamblers were also compulsive gamblers. In one group of fifty female members of Gamblers Anonymous, forty percent reported growing up in a household where one or both parents were addicted to either alcohol, or gambling (Heuer).
Compulsive gambling destroys homes, marriages and relationships. Compulsive gamblers will do anything to support their habit. They will steal the money they need to pay the bills and once the money is gone they lie to their partner about where the money is going. In extreme case utilities are shut off, automobiles or furniture is repossessed, house hold items are sold, and even worse they are evicted from their apartment or they lose their house because they have not paid the mortgage. Spouses of compulsive gamblers are harassed by bill collators and often end up with bad credit.
Compulsive gambling can also lead to gamblers losing their jobs. At work compulsive gamblers experience a range of problems that depend on whether they are self employed or employed in supervised jobs or employed in an unsupervised job. The lower the supervision the greater chance that gamblers will take advantage of the low supervision. They come in late after gambling, they leave early to gamble they use their extended lunch hour to gamble, they take sick days so they can gamble. Between sixty nine and seventy six percent of compulsive gamblers say they have done this before.
Compulsive gamblers resort to criminal actives to support their addiction. They do things like steal from their own family. They steal from other people other than their family. They steal money from their jobs. Once they exhaust savings, rent money, credit cards, banks, credit unions, loan sharks, and other resources, they resort to illegal activities like loan fraud, borrowing under false pretenses, forging their spouse’s signature on loans, and bouncing checks. Some become bookmakers or work in the illegal gambling world to finance their gambling. Further on they will embezzle from work, forge checks, engage in tax evasion and fraud, or otherwise engage in white collar illegal activity.
Compulsive gambling can also lead to medical problems .Given the marital , occupational, and legal problems, it is not surprising that in the later stages of their gambling, compulsive gamblers experience depression, insomnia, intestinal disorder, anxiety attacks, cardiac problems, high blood pressure, migraines, and other stress related problems. In a study of 217 admissions to the impatient gambling treatment program at Brecksville, Ohio, Veterans Administration Medical Center uncovered thirty nine percent with major cardiovascular disorder, and twenty six percent with allergies, and seventeen percent with respiratory problems, sixteen percent with nerve and sensory system disorders, fifth teen percent with musculoskeletal disorder, forty three percent with serious oral and dental disease, and thirty percent who were obese (Pavalko).
Compulsive gambling overlaps with other disorders. Major depressive disorder is the most commonly reported, with between seventy and seventy six percent of compulsive gamblers being given this diagnosis on a lifetime basis. High rates of hypomanic and bipolar disorder have also been found in some studies but not others. There is some evidence that rates of depression are lower among compulsive gamblers in the general population than in treatment samples, but still higher than among controls and that it declines following treatment for compulsive gamblers. Panic and anxiety disorders have also been reported as occurring more commonly among compulsive gamblers than in the general population (Pavalko).
Of the high rates of anxiety and depression, compulsive gamblers have very high rates of suicidal ideation. Between twelve and eighteen percent of GA members have made potentially lethal attempts at suicide; forty five to forty nine percent have made plans to kill themselves; forty eight to seventy percent have contemplated suicide; and eighty percent state they have wanted to die (Pavalko).
Compulsive gamblers have excessive use and chemical dependency is also common among compulsive gamblers, with forty seven to fifty two percent of compulsive gamblers receiving a substance abuse diagnosis. Conversely between nine and fourteen percent of substance abusing population have been diagnosed as compulsive gamblers. Studies of methadone populations have found similar results, with nine –twenty percent diagnosed as compulsive gamblers (Pavalko). Compulsive gamblers do not ingest, inject, or inhale substances as chemically addicted people do. Just what is it to which you become addicted? When this question is asked to compulsive gamblers, the answer is action. Action is an aroused, euphoric state involving excitement, tension, and anticipation of the outcome of a gambling event. It is the thrill of living on the edge. Compulsive gamblers describe action as a high similar to that experienced from many drug. Some experience these sensations when just thinking about gambling, as well as when they are actually gambling. Action also has been described as a rush that may include rapid heartbeat, sweaty palms, even nausea. It is not uncommon for compulsive gamblers to describe being in action as better than drugs, as and better than sex. When they are in action, they lose track of time and sleep; food, water, and using a bathroom become lower priorities than staying in action.
The incidence increases as a direct function of the dollar amount. Casino gambling has house odds which are regulated by rules, such that gamblers will expect to lose money on the average. Such being the case, the transaction is really one in which the average gambler is paying for entertainment. Therefore, disposable income (that is, excess income after meeting essentials such as food and rent) will be a major determinant of participation in casino gambling.
Section Two
Denial plays a big part in a compulsive gambler’s life. Many compulsive gamblers are in denial once they realized it is too late. “Denial like it is peer in pop psychology, codependency, has been worked to death in the last couple of decades an can now be applied to nearly any situation, however remote from actual psychological context, without drawing the least little notice” (Raabe). Tom Coates, a credit counselor, counseled a couple who put themselves into a six figure debit by gambling. They borrowed against their pension, their cars, and their home, and maxed out as many credit cards as they could. When questioned they said they had a debt problem, and not a gambling problem. This is a perfect example of denying a gambling addiction. Sometimes the whole family is in denial for years before the problem is addressed.
People with compulsive gambling often feel ashamed and try to avoid letting others know of their problem. The American Psychiatric Association defines compulsive gambling as having five or more of the following symptoms:
People with compulsive gambling often feel ashamed and try to avoid letting others know of their problem. The American Psychiatric Association defines compulsive gambling as having five or more of the following symptoms:
· Spending a lot of time thinking about gambling, such as past experiences or ways to get more money with which to gamble
· Needing to gamble large amounts of money in order to feel excitement
· Having had many unsuccessful attempts to cut back or quit gambling
· Feeling restless or irritable when trying to cut back or quit gambling
· Gambling to escape problems or feelings of sadness or anxiety
· Gambling large amounts of money to try to make back previous losses
· Lying about the amount of time or money spent gambling
· Committing crimes to get money to gamble
· Losing a job, relationship, or educational or career opportunity due to gambling
· Needing to borrow money to get by due to gambling losses
In people who develop compulsive gambling, occasional gambling leads to a gambling habit. Stressful situations can worsen gambling problems (Pathological Gambling).
Compulsive gambling has received a great deal of attention recently. In June 1999 the congressionally mandated National Gambling Impact Study Commission (NGISC) completed two years of deliberations and issued a report calling, among other things, for greater attention to compulsive gambling from the states with lotteries and licensing and taxing casinos and race tracks. The gambling industry especially the casino segment, has acknowledged that compulsive gambling is a byproduct of gambling expansion and has begun promoting responsible gaming. National television network programs dealing with compulsive gamblers and their families also have increased in numbers. Despite all this, compulsive gambling remains very much a hidden addiction, despite the fact that it is every bit as real as an addiction to alcohol or other drugs (Coates).
The view of compulsive gambling as an addiction is strengthened by a good deal of evidence that chemical dependency and compulsive gamblers are related. About half of the members of Gamblers Anonymous and compulsive gamblers in treatment have had a serious chemical addiction at some point in their lives and often for long periods of time. In addition, about ten percent of people receiving inpatient treatment for alcohol and other drug addiction are compulsive gamblers.
In many instances people with addictive personalities have difficulty controlling their extreme desire to overdo everything they approach. Because of their addictive personality they can not control the situations they find themselves in. When someone of an addictive personality tastes the success of winning, they easily become addicted to this euphoric feeling. Winning when gambling becomes like a drug. The gambler becomes addicted to the feeling of winning and this becomes their downward spiral into yet another addiction. Once they start losing their money they never know when to stop because they are in denial so this leads them to losing everything they own. In the next chart, we show the frequency of visits by these casino gamblers. At least half of these people are very infrequent (one to two times per year) gamblers.
Less than ten percent of the gamblers (or less than one percent entire population) visit eleven or more times in the last twelve months, which puts a cap on the number of potential addictive/compulsive gamblers.
Conclusion
In conclusion, compulsive gambling is an addiction. Compulsive gambling destroys homes, marriages, and relationships. Gamblers also resort to crime to support their addiction. Compulsive gambling can also cause medical problems and it also leads to death. Like other addictions compulsive gambling can also lead people down the wrong path in life. Compulsive gambling is just like a drug or alcohol addiction. So with all this said the government should step up and offer more help with compulsive gambling. They should offer more recovery programs for compulsive gamblers.
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