Best Treatment To Stop Gambling
A gambling addiction can impact one's life, financially or otherwise. Learn about gambling problems, how to spot signs of addiction, and how to seek treatment. The most frequently studied treatment type for gambling disorder is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). This type of treatment attempts to change the thoughts and behaviors that are fundamental to maintaining a pattern of behavior (e.g., gambling disorder). The goal of CBT for intemperate gambling.
Last updated: 11/14/2018
Author: Addictions.com Medical Review
Reading Time: 3minutes
While no actual physical components drive it, a gambling addiction can take hold of a person’s life in much the same way as an alcohol or drug addiction. A loss of control over gambling can bleed into work life and relationships just like any other type of addiction. This leaves the mind and its thinking patterns as the main driving forces behind the addition. Likewise, treatment for gambling addiction relies heavily on behavioral approaches that help a person break the addiction by breaking the thinking patterns that feed it.
A “Process” Addiction
Finding treatment for gambling addiction doesn’t have to be overwhelming.
A process addiction is an uncontrollable urge to do something repeatedly in spite of how it affects your social and/or financial well-being. Gambling addictions fit the bill to a tee. Rather than the combined physical and mental urges brought on by substance abuse addictions, process addictions are behavior-based in terms of the behavior itself as the main driver of the addiction.
Because of this behavioral component, treatment for gambling addiction relies heavily on behavioral therapies. The rush and excitement (or “high”) gambling brings works in much the same way as the high experienced from doing drugs. Instead of a physical high driving the addiction, a person’s actions and choices set the addiction in motion when it comes to gambling. Treatment for gambling addiction focuses on replacing the actions and choices that trigger gambling with more productive ones.
Behavior Therapy
As treatment for gambling addiction centers around eliminating destructive gambling behaviors, behavior therapies (based on the classical conditioning model) are a commonly used treatment approach. According to the University of North Texas Libraries resource site, behavior therapy may involve one or more of three different techniques:
- Aversion therapy
- Imaginal desensitization
- In vivo exposure
When used as a treatment for gambling addiction, aversion therapy uses an unpleasant stimulus, such as a small electric shock or loud noise to recondition a person’s response to gambling behavior.
Imaginal desensitization involves using relaxation techniques and visualization exercises to change a person’s physical response to gambling activities. Like imaginal desensitization, in vivo approaches combine relaxation techniques with the actual experience of gambling to recondition a person’s physical response.
Treatment for gambling addiction typically takes place in either individual or group therapy settings as part of a treatment program.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
While behavior therapy approaches work directly on a person’s gambling behaviors, cognitive behavioral therapy targets the underlying belief systems that fuel a gambling addiction. As a treatment for gambling addiction, the cognitive behavioral approach seeks to help a person see gambling in a different way. By changing a person’s underlying belief system, thoughts and behaviors naturally follow suit.
Cognitive behavioral therapy also addresses other underlying issues that may feed a gambling addiction, such as unresolved problems surrounding a person’s self-image, relationships with others and mental health problems. By working through any unresolved issues, a person has no reason to use gambling as an escape outlet.
As part of a cognitive behavioral treatment for gambling addiction, participants also confront any irrational beliefs they may have about gambling and the actual risks involved. Since a gambling addiction functions as a behavior-based, process addiction, behavior-based treatments work best when it comes to breaking the addiction’s hold on a person’s life.
Gambling has become more and more prominent in our society andaccess to gambling is very present, especially in Oregon. I have agreat deal of experience treating problem gamblers and theirfamilies. I have included here a short article that I wrote aboutproblem gambling and recovery.
Nobody wakes up one day and decides to become a gamblingaddict. Gambling usually begins as a recreational activity - it's away to spend time with friends while enjoying the game and theexcitement of the chance to win a few bucks. Recreational gamblersgenerally stick to a time and money budget. When they reach theirlimit, they stop and move on to the next activity.
Not so for the pathological gambler. Gambling addicts are notreally all that interested in winning or losing. Their main goal is tostay in action as long as possible. That action increases the levelsof certain chemicals in their brain, primarily dopamine andadrenaline, and those chemicals cause the gambler to feel happy andexcited. These are the same brain chemicals that are activated bycocaine use. Using modern imaging tools, we see that brain scans ofgamblers in action look practically identical to brains that are highon cocaine. Winning is good because it provides money to extend thegambling action. Money represents nothing more than the fuel to keepthe gambling going and the action keeps whatever painful thoughts andfeelings that the gambler is seeking to escape, at bay.
There are usually several distinct phases of gambling addiction:the winning phase, the losing phase and the desperation phase. As thedisease progresses from winning into losing and desperation, gamblersoften turn to criminal activity to fund their addiction. They will lieand steal from those close to them - family, friends, husbands, wives,parents and children. Some gamblers ultimately turn to suicide. Infact, gamblers attempt suicide at a rate that far exceeds that ofalmost any other clinical population. Forty-eight percent of gamblersin treatment in Oregon have had suicidal thoughts and nine percenthave made suicide attempts.
All of this occurs despite the fact that gamblers are generallybright, creative people. Many gamblers are educated and professionallyaccomplished. In this sense, gamblers' behavior is said to beego-dystonic, which means that it is incongruent with their truenature. Behaving in ways that run so counter to who they really are,gamblers generate a great deal of internal distress as they violatetheir own personal values time and time again. As they progress in theillness, they become more and more disconnected from loved ones, theirprofessional lives and themselves. Their dishonesty is not only towardothers, but also toward themselves.
Many people believe that if a gambler is losing excessive amountsof time and money gambling, they should just stop. The fact is,gambling addicts cannot 'just stop' any more than an alcoholic or drugaddict can stop using their drug of choice. Gambling addiction causeschanges in the gambler's brain in ways that require treatment andrecovery to arrest the addiction.
When gambling stops (usually when there's no more money), thegambler crashes - financially, physically, mentally, emotionally andspiritually. This crash is a combination of the gambler's realizationof the money and time lost, and the decrease in dopamine levels in thebrain that can lead to desperate thoughts and behavior. This is alsowhen gamblers may realize that they need professional help.
Best Medication To Stop Gambling
Recovery from gambling addiction begins with the gambler making anhonest assessment of his or her situation and deciding that they wantto stop gambling. The gambler must initiate abstinence and putbarriers in place to prevent access to money. Family members andfriends may be enlisted to help the gambler manage finances and theymust understand that the gambler is incapable of handling moneyresponsibly at this time.
Once the gambler has some time away from gambling and their systembegins to regain equilibrium, the confusion and mental fog created by gamblingwill begin to ease. Therapy can then address the issues that led themto gambling in the first place. For many, gambling is not their firstaddiction. Often gamblers have had previous problems with alcoholand/or other drugs, or compulsive shopping, spending, sex oreating. It is important to note that until the core issues areaddressed and resolved, individuals disposed to addiction will simplytrade one addiction for another. It is an attempt to mask the pain intheir lives. True recovery is achieved by doing the hard work tounderstand and make peace with life's difficulties.
Recovery from gambling addiction is a marathon, not a sprint. Itrequires effort, diligence and lifestyle changes that keep one healthyand safe from the cravings to gamble that will most surelyarise. Exercise, sleeping well, eating a healthy diet and maintainingnurturing relationships are all important parts of healthyrecovery.
The ready availability of gambling has made it possible forgambling addiction to run rampant. In Oregon, gambling is as close asthe corner deli. Gambling addiction destroys lives and familieswithout bias - it affects men and women, young and old, rich andpoor. Like all addictions, it is a disease. But there is hope. Whenaddicts and families seek and engage professional help, true recoveryis possible.
Best Treatment To Stop Gambling Loss
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