It’s an addiction. We bet everything and lost everything. But treatable

It is now recognized that many addictive behaviors not necessarily involve drug use. They are known as non-chemical addictions and include: gambling, sex, work, shop or Internet use. They conduct in which you lose control and creates dependency.

Gambling addiction receives several names: Gambling Problem, compulsive gambling or pathological game (DSM-IV). In 1980, he was recognized as a disease and did so under the name of the game Patológico and published in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM III) of the Association of American Psychiatry (APA). WHO also recognized as a disease. It is characterized as a persistent and recurrent behavior bet that thwarts family environments, personal and vocational.

It is a disease in which there is impaired ability to control impulses, so it shares many features with addiction to psychotropic drugs. The people affected are obsessed with gambling, suffer withdrawal when not playing, can not avoid this behavior, and suffer considerable changes in his personal life.

In its manual classification of mental illness, the APA takes 10 criteria to diagnose this disease. The punter:

  • You are constantly preoccupied by betting
  • You need to bet more and more money to achieve the same excitement.
  • You can not stop gambling
  • Bet as a way to escape problems or relieve their emotional states displacenteros.
  • After losing money, often return another day to try to recover losses
  • Lie to family members
  • Was involved in illegal acts (such as forgery, fraud, theft or embezzlement) to finance their bets
  • Risking their jobs or education
  • Resort to other people to get money
  • Loses control despite efforts to reduce or stop their gambling

On many occasions is in conjunction with other mental illnesses, most often with depression, bipolarity, and other addictions. It also can be seen alongside the alterations (disorders) of personality. The risk of suicide is increased by these people.

Stages of the disease


Dr. Robert Cluster was among the first to study this disease and recognized three phases in its evolution:

  1. Phase gain. The player is experiencing growing desire to play, as this generates much excitement. They generally occurs after bouts of good luck.
  2. Phase loss. The player increases his bets in order to recover money lost.
  3. Phase despair. The game becomes an obsession. It takes great risks. He loses money and debt.

Over time family and friends detect this disease. This can lead to divorce and even suicide.

Types of gambling and its dangers


Not all gambling are equally addictive. In its capacity to generate addiction have increased in order to:

1. Lotteries and bingos
2. Casinos urban or suburban
3. Card game
4. Gambling over the Internet, cell phones and television

The video poker and slot machines are considered extremely addictive. There is also a tendency by gender, then it follows that men go to more casinos and horse and women to bingos and slot machines.

Economic losses which brings gambling compulsively impacting heavily on the person’s life. The gamblers will fall into debt and bankruptcy; may lose their jobs, and in some cases carried out criminal acts to raise money (embezzlement, fraud and falsification). They may become alcoholics, and some commit suicide.

The United States knows that a 3 to 5% of the population has problems with the game, and a 1% suffer from the disease.

Yet this disease is treatable and combination therapy is that achieves the greatest success. It uses psychotherapy, support groups, and psychotropic medication.

Sources: Revista Medicos

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