Gambling addiction

By sstiles | 0 Comments | Rating: 0 | |

Gambling is just one of many potentially addictive behaviours that people find themselves caught up in. It might start off at an early age with a seemingly harmless activity such as penny arcades or fruit machines. It could be something you do to pass a few hours. You might enjoy the challenge of predicting an outcome such as the winner of a horse race or a football game. You might enjoy the excitement of a potential big win at a a casino.

The vast majority of people spend a small amount of time and money on gambling, they don't become addicted to it and it is something they can do purely for enjoyment. A small percentage of people though find that gambling starts to become too important in their life. They spend more time and money on their gambling - in whatever form - until it starts to become an activity that they can't control. If their gambling brings in enough money then it may not have much impact on their life other than reducing their social life.

However, that is very rare and for most people who become addicted to gambling their life becomes very difficult. Debts build up and family relationships are strained, either because of the debts or because the family members feel they are being neglected because of the gambling. Many people will hide their addiction from friends and family and that causes feelings of guilt.

In the past gambling has been an active pastime where gamblers have had to go to a bookmakers, pub or casino. The interaction with other people gave some opportunity for them to recommend that the gambler call it a day or that they had spent too much. That obviously depended on the individuals involved, but those environments do have some potential for keeping the gambler in check.

With the rise of online gambling people can now gamble in their own homes and it becomes a very solitary activity. There is no physical money involved and everything happens through a computer so there is much more opportunity to lose connection with the reality of the situation and the amount of money being gambled.

Some people will realise they have become addicted and take steps to stop their addiciton. People can ask to be banned from venues and can cancel their online accounts. This doesn't take away the opportunity completely though as they could always go to another venue or set up a new account.

If you feel your gambling has got out of control and you want to stop then there are support organisations that can help. It is also a good idea to change your lifestyle in a few ways. Find a way that you can restrict the money that is available to you so that you can't spend it on gambling. This could involve getting rid of credit cards or asking the bank to limit the amount of money you can take out of your account each day. Find a new activity that can take the place of your gambling. Try and find one that gives you similar feelings to the ones that you had when gambling. For instance, if you enjoyed the challenge then find a new challenge in your life or if you found it filled empty hours then volunteer or take up a new hobby. If you liked the sense of achievement then look for other ways of achieving, whether it is through exercise, joining a quiz team or learning something new.

You may find that counselling or cognitive behaviour therapy will help you to think about yourself and gambling in a different way. By learning new ways of thinking you will find that you don't have the same reaction to gambling and so it becomes something that you no longer feel compelled to do.

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