Best Treatment To Stop Gambling

Best Treatment To Stop Gambling Addiction
Best Treatment To Stop Gambling Disorders
Best Treatment To Stop Gambling Debt
Best Medication To Stop Gambling
Best Treatment To Stop Gambling Loss

How to Treat Gambling Addiction and Get the Best Results

While not a medication to stop gambling, antidepressants may be used for people with a gambling addiction who also struggle with depression. By treating the underlying depression, the urge to gamble compulsively may be reduced. This is especially true in cases where a person uses gambling to escape their feelings of depression.
Medications called narcotic antagonists, useful in treating substance abuse, may help treat compulsive gambling.
Seeking an evaluation from a professional and discussing treatment options is the best way to choose the right gambling addiction solutions for you. Where to Find Gambling Addiction Treatment for a Friend or Family Member. The sooner a person receives treatment for a gambling addiction, the easier it is to stop the progression of the illness.

When someone is in the midst of a gambling addiction, he or she will exhibit some signs that make it seem as though there is a chemical dependency occurring. All the money a person makes will be spent on the addiction, and things like homes, vehicles, and possessions might even be lost in the pursuit of gambling. Just like chemical addictions to drugs like heroin, there are even emotional problems that develop, such as depression when someone can’t have their habit. But is there any way to treat gambling addiction? Fortunately, there are many options available to a person who wishes to go somewhere where they treat gambling addiction and get their life back in order.

In many ways, it is as hard to get a compulsive gambler to stop destructive habits as it is to get someone addicted to drugs to stop using. Encouraging addiction treatment is one way to get a person into a state of recovery. Unfortunately, this process is usually a little more complicated than just asking a simple question about rehabilitation and expecting an affirmative answer from the addicted individual.

Signs of a Gambling Problem

Sometimes referred to as “compulsive gambling,” addiction to gambling feels an intense need to gamble, and addicts often don’t have the willpower to fight against this need. It is not uncommon for an individual to be fully aware that an addiction exists and yet, have no control over when and how often he or she decides to gamble.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which is a publication put together by health professionals regarding different diseases and disorders, suggests the following broad signs exist for individuals with a compulsive gambling problem:

Gambling Addiction Treatment. Gambling addiction is a compulsive disorder defined by the inability to stop gambling despite constant loss and a host of residual negative consequences. A treatable issue, few people get the gambling treatment they need until they have lost almost everything.

Bailout
Escape
Loss of control
Lying
Illegal acts
Preoccupation
Risk to relationships
Tolerance
Withdrawal

The National Institutes of Health offers a more concrete list regarding gambling addiction:

Obsessive thoughts about gambling
Lying associated with gambling behaviors
Gambling instead of work and family time
Depression linked to not gambling
Going into debt due to gambling

It’s essential to realize also that adults aren’t the only individuals who may become compulsive gamblers. A study published by the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health suggested that youth in America were extremely likely to engage in gambling behaviors. At least 17 percent of youth questioned in the survey indicated that they had gambled dozens of times in the year previous.

Different philosophies exist regarding the methods used to treat addictions, but standard treatment methods that might be seen during recovery from alcoholism or an addiction to cocaine are remarkably similar to the processes used for gambling addiction treatment. Standard treatment elements such as group therapy and one-on-one therapy sessions are vital for creating structure in a person’s life.

In choosing a facility in which to recover from gambling addiction, it’s important to ensure that there is a recovery program in place specifically designed to deal with this type of addiction. A general program that doesn’t focus on the particulars of ways to treat gambling addiction won’t be as effective. In speaking with different treatment facilities, it’s a good idea to ask about the experience the counselors have in this type of treatment.

Success in Treatment Programs

As with other addictions, someone who is addicted to gambling will not be able to conquer his or her demons without a full emotional commitment to the process. Although the symptoms of withdrawal might not be as physically painful as they would be if a person were addicted to heroin or methamphetamines, the compulsion and emotional need to gamble is an incredibly difficult need to deny.

Differences in Treatment for Substance Abuse vs. Gambling

When a person is addicted to heroin, a treatment facility can test that person’s blood for evidence of recent drug use. A gambler will have no signs visible in his bloodstream that suggest the time has been spent recently at the poker table. The signs of gambling addiction and withdrawal are much more subtle, and treatment specialists must be able to interact closely with someone in order to treat gambling addiction.

Standard Treatment Components for Gambling Recovery

Although the types of programs designed by various treatment facilities might vary regarding the treatment for gambling addiction, common elements of gambling addiction treatment include:

Best Treatment To Stop Gambling Addiction

Standard psychotherapy (counseling)
Group therapy within the treatment facility
Medication (not used in all instances)
Follow-up counseling and therapy
Group therapy after treatment

Recovery and Legal Drug Use

When in recovery from a gambling addiction, there are no drugs specifically designed to lessen the impact of stopping an addiction. Heroin addicts can take methadone to ease off their addiction, but gambling addicts must often quit their addiction “cold turkey,” which is incredibly difficult to do. Gambling, whether a person wins or loses, offers a mental “rush” that helps feed the addiction.

Some research in the past few years has been accomplished regarding gambling treatment and drugs that might assist the process, but nothing concrete regarding medications, like antidepressants, has been confirmed to work in all cases. Some research has even been undertaken with the same sort of drugs that might be used for opiate addiction since some researchers have felt blocking receptors in the brain might reduce a person’s propensity to gamble.

Families with Addicted Members

An individual will often be convinced by family members to treat gambling addiction, but family members must also make sure to engage in protective measures to ensure that the family’s finances and livelihoods are safe from a person’s gambling addiction. Although it ‘s hard to remove the trust someone might have a spouse, parent, or child, it’s necessary that financial assets are out of reach of the addicted person.

Families must also be exceptionally careful when asking their loved one to enter into a treatment facility or attempt recovery from a gambling addiction. Because the addiction isn’t one that includes needles and illegal drugs, beating a gambling addiction requires acceptance by the addicted that a problem does indeed exist.

Modern Gambling Problems

Heading to Las Vegas and blowing the mortgage payment, or meeting a bookie somewhere in a dark bar is still fairly common as far as destructive habits and gambling are concerned, but today’s gamblers also have the internet taunting them with promises of games and winnings. Even smartphones offer the chance to gamble. It’s almost impossible to stop the use of a phone and remain disconnected from the internet, so today’s gamblers do have particularly strong triggers in reach.

A gambling addiction has the potential to be incredibly destructive to a person’s life, and just because there aren’t illegal drugs involved doesn’t necessarily mean that the addiction is not a dangerous one. It is necessary that anyone who needs to treat gambling addiction seeks treatment with the support of family and friends, and with the help of mental health professionals.

Gambling has become more and more prominent in our society andaccess to gambling is very present, especially in Oregon. I have agreat deal of experience treating problem gamblers and theirfamilies. I have included here a short article that I wrote aboutproblem gambling and recovery.

Nobody wakes up one day and decides to become a gamblingaddict. Gambling usually begins as a recreational activity - it's away to spend time with friends while enjoying the game and theexcitement of the chance to win a few bucks. Recreational gamblersgenerally stick to a time and money budget. When they reach theirlimit, they stop and move on to the next activity.

Not so for the pathological gambler. Gambling addicts are notreally all that interested in winning or losing. Their main goal is tostay in action as long as possible. That action increases the levelsof certain chemicals in their brain, primarily dopamine andadrenaline, and those chemicals cause the gambler to feel happy andexcited. These are the same brain chemicals that are activated bycocaine use. Using modern imaging tools, we see that brain scans ofgamblers in action look practically identical to brains that are highon cocaine. Winning is good because it provides money to extend thegambling action. Money represents nothing more than the fuel to keepthe gambling going and the action keeps whatever painful thoughts andfeelings that the gambler is seeking to escape, at bay.

Best Treatment To Stop Gambling Disorders

There are usually several distinct phases of gambling addiction:the winning phase, the losing phase and the desperation phase. As thedisease progresses from winning into losing and desperation, gamblersoften turn to criminal activity to fund their addiction. They will lieand steal from those close to them - family, friends, husbands, wives,parents and children. Some gamblers ultimately turn to suicide. Infact, gamblers attempt suicide at a rate that far exceeds that ofalmost any other clinical population. Forty-eight percent of gamblersin treatment in Oregon have had suicidal thoughts and nine percenthave made suicide attempts.

All of this occurs despite the fact that gamblers are generallybright, creative people. Many gamblers are educated and professionallyaccomplished. In this sense, gamblers' behavior is said to beego-dystonic, which means that it is incongruent with their truenature. Behaving in ways that run so counter to who they really are,gamblers generate a great deal of internal distress as they violatetheir own personal values time and time again. As they progress in theillness, they become more and more disconnected from loved ones, theirprofessional lives and themselves. Their dishonesty is not only towardothers, but also toward themselves.

Many people believe that if a gambler is losing excessive amountsof time and money gambling, they should just stop. The fact is,gambling addicts cannot 'just stop' any more than an alcoholic or drugaddict can stop using their drug of choice. Gambling addiction causeschanges in the gambler's brain in ways that require treatment andrecovery to arrest the addiction.

When gambling stops (usually when there's no more money), thegambler crashes - financially, physically, mentally, emotionally andspiritually. This crash is a combination of the gambler's realizationof the money and time lost, and the decrease in dopamine levels in thebrain that can lead to desperate thoughts and behavior. This is alsowhen gamblers may realize that they need professional help.

Recovery from gambling addiction begins with the gambler making anhonest assessment of his or her situation and deciding that they wantto stop gambling. The gambler must initiate abstinence and putbarriers in place to prevent access to money. Family members andfriends may be enlisted to help the gambler manage finances and theymust understand that the gambler is incapable of handling moneyresponsibly at this time.

Best Treatment To Stop Gambling Debt

Once the gambler has some time away from gambling and their systembegins to regain equilibrium, the confusion and mental fog created by gamblingwill begin to ease. Therapy can then address the issues that led themto gambling in the first place. For many, gambling is not their firstaddiction. Often gamblers have had previous problems with alcoholand/or other drugs, or compulsive shopping, spending, sex oreating. It is important to note that until the core issues areaddressed and resolved, individuals disposed to addiction will simplytrade one addiction for another. It is an attempt to mask the pain intheir lives. True recovery is achieved by doing the hard work tounderstand and make peace with life's difficulties.

Recovery from gambling addiction is a marathon, not a sprint. Itrequires effort, diligence and lifestyle changes that keep one healthyand safe from the cravings to gamble that will most surelyarise. Exercise, sleeping well, eating a healthy diet and maintainingnurturing relationships are all important parts of healthyrecovery.

Best Medication To Stop Gambling

The ready availability of gambling has made it possible forgambling addiction to run rampant. In Oregon, gambling is as close asthe corner deli. Gambling addiction destroys lives and familieswithout bias - it affects men and women, young and old, rich andpoor. Like all addictions, it is a disease. But there is hope. Whenaddicts and families seek and engage professional help, true recoveryis possible.