Love to gamble? You may have ludomania, also known as problem gambling or compulsive gambling (among professional). Ludomania is a severe addiction of continuously and non-stop compulsive gambling. This condition greatly affect one’s life though their purpose was just for fun.
They really don’t matter if they’re winning or losing. And when money their money is gone, they will do anything in order to have money and play again. That’s why its somehow related to kleptomania, pyromania, trichotillomnia. Not all gamblers are compulsive gambler, some people only gamble just for entertainment and enjoyment.
These are the symptoms of compulsive gambling. If you have 5 symptoms out of 10 following symptoms, then you must be aware. (www.wikipedia.org)
- Preoccupation. The subject has frequent thoughts about gambling experiences, whether past, future, or fantasy.
- Tolerance. As with drug tolerance, the subject requires larger or more frequent wagers to experience the same “rush”.
- Withdrawal. Restlessness or irritability associated with attempts to cease or reduce gambling.
- Escape. The subject gambles to improve mood or escape problems.
- Chasing. The subject tries to win back gambling losses with more gambling.
- Lying. The subject tries to hide the extent of his or her gambling by lying to family, friends, or therapists.
- Loss of control. The person has unsuccessfully attempted to reduce gambling.
- Illegal acts. The person has broken the law in order to obtain gambling money or recover gambling losses. This may include acts of theft, embezzlement, fraud, or forgery.
- Risked significant relationship. The person gambles despite risking or losing a relationship, job, or other significant opportunity.
- Bailout. The person turns to family, friends, or another third party for financial assistance as a result of gambling.
TREATMENT:
Most treatment for this condition involves counselling, step-based programs, self-help, peer-support, or medication. There’s no treatment and medications is considered to be most effective for curing the gamble problem.
Gamblers Anonymous (GA) is a commonly used treatment for gambling problems. Modeled after Alcoholics Anonymous, GA uses a 12-step model that emphasizes a mutual-support approach.
One form of counseling, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has been shown to reduce symptoms and gambling-related urges. This type of therapy focuses on the identification of gambling-related thought processes, mood and cognitive distortions that increase one’s vulnerability to out-of-control gambling. Additionally, CBT approaches frequently utilize skill-building techniques geared toward relapse prevention, assertiveness and gambling refusal, problem solving and reinforcement of gambling-inconsistent activities and interests.
There is evidence that the SSRI paroxetine is efficient in the treatment of pathological gambling. Additionally, for patients suffering from both pathological gambling and a comorbid bipolar spectrum condition, sustained release lithium has shown efficacy in a preliminary trial.The opiate antagonist drug nalmefene has also been trialled quite successfully for the treatment of compulsive gambling.
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