What Is Gambling Addiction?

Addiction can be a challenging thing to deal with and often requires professional support to overcome. When people hear the word addiction, they may only think about substance addiction, yet it is possible to be addicted to behaviors as well as substances. If you rely on problematic behaviors for stress relief, or to cope with difficult things, you can become dependent on those behaviors. Gambling addiction forms when someone becomes dependent on gambling to handle stressors in their life. When gambling addiction gets out of control, it can affect someone's mental health, as well as their finances. West Coast Recovery Centers offers comprehensive treatment for behavioral addictions, giving you control over your mental health.

Gambling addiction can cause long-term damage to someone's life if left unchecked. Some of the risks that may come from an addiction to gambling include financial stress, physical symptoms, and isolation from peers and loved ones. Isolation can exacerbate someone's dependence on gambling as they lose ways to cope with negative feelings. Gambling can be dangerous because of the ability to disrupt your life and your ability to care for yourself. Understanding what gambling addiction is and how best to manage behavioral addiction will give you the skills necessary to take control of your life. 

What Is Gambling Addiction?

Gambling addiction is a form of behavioral addiction where the person struggles to control their gambling. This is because gambling stimulates the brain's reward system and releases dopamine. Winning in gambling, or even the prospect of winning, can cause people to engage in it over and over, even if it is harmful to them. When someone is unable to control their need to gamble and engage in it even when it is detrimental to them, they are at risk of gambling addiction. Becoming dependent on the feeling of gambling can cause someone to struggle to stop gambling on their own. Many different risks are associated with gambling addiction.

Risks Associated With Gambling Addiction

An article published in Psychiatry. states that the risks of gambling addiction “may also include intense levels of guilt and shame, deceptive practices, and heightened impulsivity/ impaired decision-making.” Like addiction to substances, gambling addiction can be all-encompassing. When someone struggles with an addiction, they feel dependent on the activity or substance, to the point of harming themselves or things within their lives. 

The behavior of gambling can cause long-term issues in many different areas of your life. Losing control over gambling can cause problems in maintaining work and financial health. Gambling can also cause various physical symptoms that can cause long-term damage to people's lives. If someone spends all of their money on gambling, they may lose access to sustainable food sources, and cause issues with their relationships. Oftentimes, people struggling with gambling addiction may be isolated from their family or loved ones. 

As addiction grows worse, isolation can make it hard for people to get help. When someone is addicted to a behavior, there may be shame in their inability to work through it on their own. Sometimes, people who struggle with behavioral addiction may feel like they shouldn't be experiencing difficulty with it because it is not a substance. Understanding behavioral addictions and how to work through them will help alleviate feelings of guilt and shame for those struggling with them. 

What Are Behavioral Addictions?

Behavioral addiction happens when someone becomes dependent on a behavior to work through negative stressors. Engaging in this behavior gives someone the same mental feeling that substances give to people who use them. As your brain becomes dependent on a behavior, you engage in it compulsively. If your addiction to this behavior worsens, you will lose your ability to stop engaging in it without help. Addiction to behaviors may also carry with them shame, which makes it harder to get treatment. Treatment is important for behavioral addiction because of the stress that these behaviors may put on you.

There are many different forms of behavioral addictions, including gambling addiction. Other behavioral addictions include things such as shopping addictions, sex addiction, food addiction, and internet addiction. When you depend on these activities to relieve stress, it is harder to avoid them when trying to recover. Treatment works to give people the skills they need to stay healthy and away from their addiction. 

At West Coast Recovery Centers, we offer treatment for substance addiction and behavioral addictions. These addictions work in the same way as addiction to substances. Relying on a behavior means that you may require treatment to be able to cease it and establish recovery. Treatment for behavioral addictions starts with getting into therapy. Therapeutic intervention allows a professional to work with you on the underlying reason that you depend on your addiction. Working through the reasons that make you turn to behaviors to cope will help to stop you from turning to that behavior.

Understanding more about behavioral addictions will give you the skills you need to get into recovery. Gambling addiction can be difficult for people to handle on their own because gambling can cause people to isolate from their loved ones. There can be a lot of shame associated with gambling due to the long-term effects and risks associated with it. Losing financial security and putting your safety at risk can be difficult to handle, which may cause someone struggling with gambling to hide and isolate. Getting treatment will help to work through the underlying causes you turn to gambling to cope with your stressors. If you want to learn more, contact West Coast Recovery Centers at (760) 492-6509.