Normally, when we talk about addictions, we inevitably think of substance use. While it is true that these have been widely studied and have received a great deal of attention in the scientific literature, they are not the only addictions that we can find in psychopathology.
Gambling-related addiction and more recently addiction to new technologies represent a problem that has also been the object of study. Gambling (whether in casinos, sports betting, slot machines, video games, etc.) is a playful and apparently harmless activity that, however, can become a problem. Keep reading this Psychology-Online article in which we discuss the subject of gambling addiction: what is it, symptoms, causes and treatment.
Gambling addiction has the particularity of constituting an addiction without an associated substance use. This addiction consists of the appearance of frequent gambling behaviors that entail a high economic and time investment. The need to play can even negatively interfere with daily life of the person in different areas such as work, social or family.
Gambling addiction can constitute a psychological disorder if it meets certain diagnostic criteria. Gambling addiction is included in the DSM-5 (American Psychiatric Association) and ICD-11 (World Health Organization) diagnostic classifications.
What is gambling addiction called? In the DSM-5, pathological gambling is included in the category "Substance-related disorders and addictive disorders" and more specifically in the subsection "Non-substance related disorders" and in the ICD-11 there are two categories "Gambling disorder" Y "Video game use disorder" included in the “disorders due to addictive behaviors”.
For the exposition of the clinical characteristics of pathological gambling, we are going to follow Fernández-Montalvo, J. and López-Goñi, J.J. (2014)[1], who group them into three areas: physiological and emotional, cognitive and behavioral.
Physiological and emotional area
- Patients experience a physiological arousal and / or activation related to gambling behavior.
- They can present sleeping problems.
- We can also find depressive symptoms and distress generated by economic losses and the payment of possible debts derived from gambling behavior.
- The cessation of the gambling behavior (or at least the attempt to quit) causes irritability and / or nervousness.
Cognitive area
- At a cognitive level, the patient will present gambling concerns and the losses associated with it.
- We can observe cognitive distortions and biases: You can deny your problem, minimize it, present the illusion of control (consider that you control the results of the game of chance), game strategies, etc.
- May appear suicidal ideation.
Behavioral area
- First, the patient spend a lot of time to gambling behavior.
- A symptom reminiscent of tolerance that occurs in substance-related addictions and that is included in the DSM-5 consists in that the person, to achieve the level of excitement that you want, bet increasing amountss money.
- The patient suffers economic losses derived from the game, which may lead you to play again to try to recover lost money. These losses lead to constant debts and defaults. All this causes a spiral from which it is difficult for the patient to get out. This situation can also lead the person to steal or carry out criminal acts.
- This whole situation also leads the patient to lie constantly.
There are different explanatory theories for the origin of pathological gambling, although there seems to be no evidence of the superiority of one over the others.
- Behavioral psychology: this establishes the beginning of the addiction to the game through the positive reinforcement that the prizes give (although they do not suppose very large prizes) passes, once control is lost, to negative reinforcement, that is, avoiding the discomfort of not playing or the anguish caused by losses economic.
- Behavioral execution mechanism: This theory proposes that, when faced with stimuli related to play, the patient feels the need to "complete the behavior" (that is, play) since if this does not happen, the person experiences discomfort subjective.
- Psychophysiological activation: These theories postulate that the reinforcer that makes the behavior tend to be repeated would be the physiological activation that causes the game.
- Cognitive models: these models propose the existence of cognitive distortions in the development and maintenance of pathological gambling. Cognitive biases such as illusion of control, biased evaluation of results, superstitions or selective recall of gains have been found.
- Biological models: from the field of biology it has also tried to explain what happens in pathological players. In this area, the decrease in neurotransmission has been studied in both serotonin like norepinephrine and dopamine.
How to stop gambling addiction? Can you get out of gambling alone? Treatment is complex since it must cover all the dimensions related to gambling addiction present in the case to be treated. There are several treatment strategies that include from cognitive behavioral therapyl to pharmacological treatment (based mainly on anxiolytic and antidepressant drugs.)
At the behavioral level, stimuli associated with gambling are controlled (such as the availability of money, for example) and the live exposure technique with response prevention, so that the desire to play is provoked in the patient and he is taught to control them. They are also used relaxation techniques.
On the other hand, within cognitive treatments it is used:
- Motivational therapy.
- Cognitive restructuring.
- Relapse prevention.
In the following article, you will find more information about Types of addictions and their consequences.
This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
If you want to read more articles similar to Gambling addiction: what is it, symptoms, causes and treatment, we recommend that you enter our category of Addictions.
Gambling addiction: what is it, symptoms, causes and treatment
