When gambling stops being fun
Gambling in Massachusetts is as easy as downloading an app on your cellphone. Now that sports betting is legal in the state, you don’t even need to leave your home to gamble. And that can be a problem for some people.
Most people who gamble do it socially. They might occasionally visit a casino or buy a scratch ticket just for fun. But about two million U.S. adults are estimated to meet the criteria for severe gambling problems and another four to six million Americans are considered to have mild or moderate gambling problems, according to the National Council on Problem Gambling.
“It can be a serious addiction,” said Cape Cod Healthcare Counselor/Clinician Cheryl Powell, LMHC, MaCCS. “It is also a disorder of compulsion, which is pretty much the same thing. It is a very sad thing because it rules them and it can ruin their life.”
Problem gamblers can end up losing money, their home, their job and their family. They are also more likely to have co-morbidities with other mental illnesses.
“About 41 percent of those diagnosed with a gambling addiction have co-morbid depression and about 39 percent have co-morbid anxiety,” Powell said.
Gambling problems are more prevalent in men than women, but if women do develop a problem, it usually has a later onset like middle age.
Problem gambling follows a cycle, Powell said. First the person wins, which gives them a dopamine rush similar to the one people get from alcohol or drugs. They feel elation and want to experience that feeling again. But then they eventually lose. Problem gamblers keep gambling in an attempt to win back what they lost. Like addiction, there are highs and lows. They rationalize that they will play just one more game and up the ante, she said. Then they end up losing even more.
“They call it chasing one’s losses, which is exactly what they do,” Powell said. “I find that alcoholism is easier to understand than gambling, but they are very, very similar.”
Seven Predominant Symptoms
For a diagnosis of a gambling disorder, Powell said a person would have to have four or more of the following seven symptoms:
- Gambling with increasing amounts of money.
- Restless or irritable behavior.
- Repeated unsuccessful attempts to control, cut back or stop gambling.
- Gambling when feeling distressed, helpless or anxious.
- Lies to conceal the extent of their gambling.
- Loss of a significant relationship, job, education or career.
- Relies on others to provide money to relieve desperate financial lows.
“There is no set cure for a gambling addiction, but there are treatments that can help,” Powell said. Cognitive behavioral therapy can help addicts process their behavior so they can understand it. Family therapy can also be effective, but a lot of gambling addicts do not want to do family therapy because of a fear that family members will point blame at them, she said. Medications like anti-depressants and mood stabilizers can also help.
“I personally feel that in the patients that I have tried to treat, self-help groups are the best benefit,” Powell said. “Groups like Gamblers Anonymous helps you know that you’re not the only one. There are others who are tackling the same problem.”
Once people find a way to stop gambling, Powell recommends that they never do it again unless they can find the same excitement from gambling with something innocuous like peanuts or matchsticks. That’s one tool for helping to keep it under control. She also believes that educating people on the dangers of excessive gambling can help.
“I think that education is helpful so that people understand that doing the lottery every once in a while might be fun, but if you’re doing it all the time and you don’t have money to pay your bills, then you need to look seriously at what your priorities are,” she said. “Is it worth it to you to get that occasional high or two and not be able to pay your bills or care for your family? And also think about the impact on the other areas in your life. Suddenly, one realizes that the fun is gone and there is only the compulsion and the consequences.”
