Do you find yourself gambling to escape and cope with feelings like sadness, anxiety, stress, or worry?
At times, when pushing aside feelings, compulsive gambling occurs. Some adults, develop a gambling disorder. Essentially, a gambling disorder is the uncontrollable urge to keep gambling, despite negative impacts. Often, the habit of gambling takes a toll on your life. Gambling means the bettor rarely wins. And, it is a game of hope and losses. When you gamble, it means that you’re willing to risk something you value in the hope of getting something of even greater value. On this note, gambling can easily slip into an addiction. Casinos, lottery tickets, and betting on the Super Bowl are all forms of gambling. And, just like alcoholics, some people develop regulation issues.
Similarly to alcohol and drugs, gambling can stimulate the brain’s reward system.
So, much like drugs or alcohol can, it is easy to become addicted to gambling. With out healthy coping strategies, gambling compulsions lead to addiction. Now, if you have a problem with compulsive gambling, you may continually feel like you are in a race. At times, it feels tense, stressful, and there is anxiety. Other times, you feel high, and on top of the world. Often, people who gamble will chase bets that lead to big losses. But, like a drug high, people who gamble will hide their behavior. In secrecy, you may be depleting savings and hiding this bad habit. As well, it is common for compulsive gamblers to accumulate debt. In severe cases, a gambling addiction can resort to theft or fraud to support the addiction. Sometimes, people will steal from a petty cash bin at their place fo work to keep gambling.
How does a gambling addiction impact children and the family unit?
To continue, compulsive gambling is a serious condition that can destroy a family and create instability at home. Manytimes, treating compulsive gambling is a dynamic family process, it can be challenging. Many people who struggle with compulsive gambling also have a history of trauma, other addiction, or mental health challenges. Often, people with a gambling addiction require professional therapy and intensive treatment. In therapy, out therapists help adults with a gambling addiction find healthy coping strategies. From a holistic approach, we believe there is a feeling stuck behind the negative behavior. Often, gambling, addiction, and alcoholism are rooted in childhood trauma and neglect.
Holistic gambling disorder therapy can teach positive coping strategies for the loss, anxiety, and pain under the addictive behavior.
What makes a gambling problem a problem?
Furthermore, when someone in your family has a gambling problem, you may notice these symptoms. AS well, if you are wondering if you have a problem with gambling, watch out for these signs and symptoms. Essentially, by looking out for these symptoms, you can get help and treatment for compulsive gambling and gambling disorder sooner. For one, do you find yourself intensely focusing on money? At times, people with gambling disorders will be preoccupied with gambling. Every waking moment of your day is filled with thoughts of gambling. Manytimes, people who are compulsive gamblers are constantly planning how to get more gambling money.
Do you strive for the same rush you once had, but find you have to keep spending more and more money to feel that thrill?
Now, a tolerance builds up over time. So, the rush you had when you first began gambling will never be as exciting or fun. Therefore, a person with a gambling disorder will always be needing to gamble with more money to get the same thrill. If you notice yourself building a tolerance, this is a sign of an addiction. Oftentimes, people with a gambling disorder will try to stop or reduce their negative behaviors by themselves. However, these efforts to cut back or stop are often unsuccessful. For instance, a gambling addict may try to only gamble on certain days of the week. But, they find themselves gambling despite the intention to stop. It almost feels uncontrollable, like a wild fire. With gambling addiction, there is often a restless or irritability present when you try to cut down on gambling.
What other gambling disorder symptoms do we help treat in counseling?
Sometimes, when people cut back their gambling use, they will find another addiction starts like food, alcohol, or drugs. To add, gambling becomes a severe problem when a person begins to gamble to push feelings aside. So, if you are gambling to escape problems or relieve feelings of helplessness, anger, loss, guilt, anxiety or depression, seek counseling. As well, it is common for gambling addicts to rationalize their addiction. Also, a compulsive gambler truly believes they could win if they gamble more. So, a gambling addict will try to get back money lost by gambling more. For instance, this is called chasing losses, and only leads to more losses.
With gambling disorder therapy, a mixture of holistic therapy, walking, yoga, and lifestyle skills are essential for stopping cravings.
Secrets are a big part of having a gambling addiction
Frequently, a person with a compulsive gambling issue with keep secrets. Over time, little secrets snowball into huge lies that can hurt a family. As well, lying to family members or others to hide the extent of gambling is very real. Sometimes, a spouse may betray the other spouse by gambling all of their shared retirement away in secret. Or, a spouse may secretly gamble the college tuition or shared mortgage away. Essentially, gambling issues can leave a whole family needing support and education. To add, with addictions like gambling, it is common to put the addiction first. So, romantic and family relationships suffer, not to mention work relationships. Overall, gambling disorder therapy helps you find healthy outlets for intense emotions. And, when those emotions have a place to go for an outlet, gambling behaviors decrease. In time, gambling disorder therapy can help you feel confident and authentic being yourself.
Looking for a creative gambling disorder therapy approach?
At Wisdom Within Counseling, in Southeastern Connecticut, gambling disorder treatment is comprehensive. For one, you can choose from art, yoga, music, meditation, or walking. You can learn how to love and accept all parts of yourself. As well, gambling disorder therapy in Southeastern Connecticut is unique at Wisdom Within. Our therapists support your mind, body, and spirit when treating gambling disorder. Lastly, deep, holistic trauma work on childhood neglect is a part of gambling disorder. So, from gambling disorder therapy, we help you gain a positive coping tool box for your entire life. In counseling, you can learn tools and positive coping strategies for lifelong mental wellness.
In a gambling addiction, relationships suffer.
Overall, a big trademark of a gambling addiction is jeopardizing or losing important relationships. For instance, this may be with your a job, or school or work opportunities that end because of compulsive gambling. It is more common that not that after all secrets have come out, that stealing occurred. Unfortunately, resorting to theft or fraud to get gambling money is common. And, asking others to bail you out of financial trouble because you gambled more money away is common too. At Wisdom Within Counseling, we help adults who had a gambling disorder understand the root cause. From there, we teach tools to rebuild nurturing relationships all from self-care. Work with a gambling disorder specialist at Wisdom Within Counseling.
What is compulsive gambling?
For one, most casual gamblers can easily stop when losing. As well, before going to gamble, a casual gambler will set a loss limit and be able to stick to it. On the other hand, people with a compulsive gambling problem have a compulsion to keep playing. And, their mindset is that of an addict because they keep gambling believing they can recover their money. Over time, compulsive gambling becomes a negative pattern, and one that is increasingly destructive.
