Month: May 2014

Treatment for Gambling Addiction

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gambling addiction treatmentGambling addictions are one of the most common forms of addiction in the world. Gambling addictions are spawned by an addiction to risk taking, which is inherent in many different types of people. This addiction is one that is frequently not taken as seriously as addictions that pose an immediate threat to the addict, such as substance addictions. A gambling addiction can prove disastrous to a person’s life if it is left untreated, however, and warrants urgent attention. People often mistake it for a non-serious addiction, but the draw that is has over its victims is its own kind of chemical addiction.

The best thing a gambling addict can do for themselves and their loved ones is submit to addiction treatment. Professional addiction treatment for compulsive gamblers has been proven to have more success than any other remedy for gambling addiction. Checking into rehab to end compulsive gambling can prevent you from destroying your finances, losing personal relationships and being a detriment to your own well-being. Addiction treatment accomplishes this by helping you change your thought and behavioral patterns to stop perpetuating your addictive behavior. You will come to understand what underlying causes make you gamble in the first place and will reverse them through cognitive behavioral therapy treatment. After treatment is complete, support will still be provided to you in the form of counseling and sponsorship in order to ensure your recovery’s success.

Do not be overtaken by a gambling addiction. Even if you have lost considerable investments to a financial gamble, you need to know that you did so due to certain neurological and chemical patterns that are not your fault, but that you can and should learn to change. You can take control of your life and your future by enlisting the help of a quality addiction treatment facility today.

 

When Financing Becomes Gambling

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gambling or financingA gambling addiction is not something that is unheard of. The term draws to mind images of a disheveled, red-eyed person nervously going back and forth between a bank machine and a blackjack table, sorrowfully losing their kid’s college money to a casino. However, this is not the only face of a gambling addiction. Gambling, by definition, is deliberately taking a risk in hopes of a desired result; something that creates an ample amount of dopamine (the chemical that tells us we are having fun) within the brains of certain types of people. For the stereotypical addict, a slot machine or card table is enough of a draw. For a white collar addict, much larger scale financial investments are required.

The stigma of an addict as a broken person remains in our culture even as psychology identifies that some of the most successful personality types are prone to addiction. When people cannot stop themselves from pulling the handle of a slot machine, they are labeled addicts. When a wealthy man cannot take his attention away from the stock market rising and falling, he is labeled as a smart investor. In fact, there are many avenues for a gambling addiction to rear its head among the wealthy: getting thrills from risky business mergers, addictively flipping houses, obsessively trading stocks and so on. Any risk taking behavior that consumes a person is a type of gambling or adrenaline addiction and should be addressed for what it is.

Addiction is identified by certain signs and symptoms that indicate an unhealthy immersion into an activity or substance. A life of balance is healthy where as a life of obsession and addiction is unhealthy. If you believe that you or someone you care about is addicted to gambling, despite their outwardly successful appearance, reach out for help to a gambling addiction counselor or a gambling addiction treatment.

Addiction to Investing

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investing addictionFor some people, investing is their career. Stock brokers, shareholders and even people who flip houses make investments with the intent of turning those investments into a profit. Few of these investments are insured. Most involve some element of risk. A stockbroker may put money into a bad stock and lose it. A house flipper may invest in a property that they are unable to turn around and sell. Gambling is a part of professional investing, but just like gambling at a slot machine or a card table, people can become addicted to making large scale financial investments. Every kind of gambling offers the gambler a thrill, and for some, that thrill is irresistible.

Addiction to gambling begins when a person discovers that gambling gives them feelings of pleasure. Gambling is meant to be fun and many people enjoy it without becoming addicted to it, but for some, gambling becomes much more than fun. The chemical in our brains that is generated when we are experiencing pleasure is called dopamine. While the average person’s brain creates a rush of dopamine in response to a pleasurable experience, a person’s brain who is prone to addiction cannot create as much dopamine so they overindulge in the thing they find pleasurable in order to achieve a normal amount of dopamine. Some people achieve dopamine by taking exciting risks, such as gambling, which is why this activity is so often overused.

Large scale gambling, with the stock market or a number of other gambling mediums, can provide the same satisfying thrill that what we traditionally think of as gambling provides. Even making a risky business venture can be thought of as gambling, and if a CEO or an executive becomes addicted to this feeling, they might take unnecessary risks or jeopardize themselves or their company. All forms of gambling addiction can lead to personal ruin. Gambling addiction damages finances, relationships and professional standing, sometimes past repair. It is a psychological addiction that can be beaten with will power and addiction treatment. If you or someone you love is addicted to gambling, reach out to a mental health professional today to take your life back.