People with compulsive gambling have a hard time resisting or controlling the impulse to gamble. The brain is reacting to this impulse in the same manner it reacts to a person addicted to alcohol or drugs. Although it shares features of obsessive compulsive disorder, compulsive gambling is likely a different condition. Gambling addiction comes in many forms, the primary symptom being a craving for gaming. Some of the signs and symptoms of problem gambling include: Gambling is not a financial problem, but an. Common symptoms for people with compulsive gambling include: Always thinking about gambling. Thinking about reliving previous wins, or new ways to secure money to gamble again. Wanting to gamble with larger amounts of money to get the same thrill. Learn to recognize the symptoms of compulsive gambling to help your friend or loved one overcome their addiction. This is an impulse control disorder which can be treated with therapy. A gambling addiction is very similar to a drug or alcohol addiction.

1. Symptoms Of Compulsive Gambling

Gambling while on vacation or buying the occasional lottery ticket poses little to no threat to a person’s overall quality of life. When done on a recreational basis, gambling can be a fun activity. Compulsive gambling, however, takes gambling activities to a whole other level.

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Health, three percent of Americans will experience job loss, broken families, debt and legal problems as result of compulsive gambling behaviors. In effect, the word “compulsive” best depicts the disorder aspect of compulsive gambling.

More oftentimes than not, compulsive behaviors result from some form of obsession that overwhelms a person’s ability to control or manage the behavior. These characteristics most resemble addiction-type behaviors without the drug or alcohol component. Not unlike drug/alcohol addictions, compulsive gambling behaviors trigger physiological changes and behavioral changes, both of which have a noticeable impact on a person’s everyday quality of life.

Process-Based Addictions

Addiction describes a disorder characterized by a loss of control, so compulsive behavior becomes a key component within any form of addiction. Process-based addictions involve activities where a person loses control over his or her ability to walk away from further engagement. Compulsive gambling behaviors fall within the process-based addiction category.

Much like addictions to alcohol and drugs, a person may start out gambling on an infrequent basis as a form of recreation. For people with addiction tendencies, the fun or thrill of engaging in the activity becomes a force all its own, similar to how a drug “high” drives addicts to keep using.

Ultimately, someone with a compulsive gambling (addiction) disorder will exhibit the following characteristics –

• Spending increasing amounts of time gambling
• Disregard for negative consequences brought on by gambling behavior
• An inability to limit or stop gambling behavior
• Thinking about and anticipating the next time he or she gambles
• An emotional tie with the activity

Gambling Effects in the Brain

Someone who cannot control their gambling may be said to have a gambling disorder.

For people addicted to gambling, the act of gambling has become an obsession. Obsessions, in general, trigger certain emotional responses, which play a central role in perpetuating this condition.

Likewise, compulsive gamblers experience a “rush” or “high” that produces chemical changes in the brain, much like a drug or alcohol “high.” According to Scientific American, these chemical changes affect the same neurotransmitter chemicals that regulate emotions, learning, cognitive functions and motivation.

Over time, these chemical changes start to “rewire” how the brain works and eventually alter a person’s motivations, thoughts and behaviors. In effect, the more a person engages in gambling the more out of balance brain chemical processes become.

Symptoms of Compulsive Gambling

Like drug and alcohol abuse disorders, a gambling disorder can wreak havoc in most every area of a person’s life. Symptoms of compulsive gambling disorder include –

• Decline in personal appearance and/or hygiene
• Frequent mood swings
• Sleep problems
• Risk-taking
• Financial difficulties
• Changes in appetite
• Legal problems
• Relationship conflicts
• Problems at work

Not surprisingly, these same symptoms can result from drug/alcohol addictions. As with any form of addiction, a person’s gambling behaviors will only get worse unless he or she gets needed treatment help.

Gambling is the most provocative and compelling human activity, which was once seen as a popular entertainment activity among adults. However, the hidden addiction that it afflicts has increasingly been condemned and rebuked as a social evil. It has lead many people to bankruptcy, committing crime and suicide.

Just like alcohol addiction or drug addiction, gambling too can become an addiction; a gambler experiences emotional thrill while gambling. This irresistible impulse to gamble is called pathological gambling. It is also called compulsive gambling. In today’s world of gambling, pathological gambling disorder has ruined several people’s personal and social life.

Pathological gambling disorder usually begins in the early years of teenage among men. In women, the disorder begins in their late 20’s or 30’s. Usually, a person who develops compulsive gambling disorder begins with occasional gambling, but as days pass, he eventually becomes habituated gambler. The problem increases in stressful situations. Person suffering from this disorder finds very hard to resist and control the urge for gambling.

Symptoms Of Compulsive Gambling Addiction

Many times a compulsive gambler may find himself ashamed of his gambling habits, for this reason he tries to hide his problems from others.

If any of these symptoms are found in a person who has gambling habit, he should seek treatment for his pathological gambling disorder.

• A person, who is hooked on gambling, often turns towards criminal activities, either to fulfill his gambling addiction or an attempt to forfeit his debts. This terrible act can get a person in prison.
• A person becomes anxious, irritable and restless when he voluntarily attempts to relinquish gambling activity.
• A person finds gambling as an escape route for his problems in life.
• Becomes suicidal when debts from gambling losses become unbearable.
• Losses incurred in gambling makes the person to gamble with more money in anticipation of recovering the loss.
• A person may lose his job, business, carrier, wife and kids. Women and children of pathological gamblers are often the victims of physical and sexual assault.
• There is associated risk of alcohol and drug abuse.
• Plays with large amount of money to feel the thrill and excitement of gambling.
• Lies about the losses and time spent on gambling.
• Starts to borrow money in order to compensate the losses.
• Continues to gamble even after strong attempts to stop or cut back his gambling habit.

Treatment For Pathological Gambling Disorder

An evaluation by a psychiatrist for a person with a strong history of gambling helps in diagnosis of pathological gambling disorder.

• Just like alcohol and drug addiction, pathological gambling is also a chronic problem. A person needs to be counseled and treated in an effective manner; otherwise the problem can miserably affect his as well as the lives of his dear ones. Many times there can be a relapse, but with right treatment, the end result is always positive.
• Since curing this problem is a tough task, and for this reason the best way is to practice abstinence from gambling. Pathological gambling can be treated by group therapy or individual therapy. The person is treated in the same way as an alcoholic goes to AA (alcoholic anonymous). Here the pathologic gambler goes to GA (gambler anonymous) meeting.
• Cognitive behavioral therapy has also been found to be useful in treating pathological gambling disorder.
• Few antidepressants medications have also been found effective, but still more research is required in this directions.

By taking treatment seriously, it is possible to remove pathological gambling from a person’s life. So better play your cards well in life, and let not the cards play with your life.

Symptoms Of Compulsive Gambling