Many people don’t consider gambling a true addiction. After all, you’re not ingesting any chemicals like alcohol or cocaine, however, recent research into the field has shown that gambling addicts share many of the same psychological and physiological symptoms as hard core drug addicts. When you place a wager, you are essentially taking a risk. The body’s response to risk and danger is to release a hormone called adrenaline, which is responsible for what scientists call the “fight or flight” mechanism of defense. The sudden release of adrenaline increases your heart rate, elevates your blood pressure, and heightens your senses, making you more aware of your surroundings and making you feel more “alive.” Over time, as you place more bets and play longer at roulette, your body may begin to grow accustomed to the elevated levels of adrenaline, making you crave more of it, which you can get by placing larger wagers. In addition, gambling addicts also exhibit a change in brain chemistry. In the brain, chemicals called neurotransmitters are responsible for allowing nerve cells to communicate with one another. Certain neurotransmitters like norepinepphrin, seratonin, and dopamine, also have mood altering properties. Compulsive gambling can lead to the release of these chemicals, which can produce a feeling of euphoria, which is highly intoxicating and very addictive. The same patterns of changes in brain chemistry are also found in alcoholics and cocaine addicts, making gambling addiction just as bad.
Below are some signs that you or a loved one may have a gambling problem:
1. Preoccupation with Gambling
A person with a roulette gambling problem will have the game on his mind constantly. He may talk about it incessantly and study the game in all of his free time.
2. Isolation from Family
Gambling addicts often withdraw from friends and family in order to feed their addictions. They may spend an inordinate amount of time on the computer at an online casino or in a physical casino, neglecting their family duties.
3. Lying
Gamblers will often lie to hide their addiction. They may lie about what they are doing on the computer, where they have been, or about how much time they spend gambling.
4. Poor Performance and Job or School
If you have a loved one who is suddenly failing at work or at school, he may have a problem with gambling. Like any other addiction, gambling takes over a person’s life, making them focus on it rather than their job or school work. Gambling becomes the most important thing in the addict’s life.
5. Mounting Bills
A sure sign that a person has a gambling problem is a stack of mounting bills, particularly if the person has a well paying job and never had a problem paying the bills before. A stack of unpaid bills signifies that the money is going elsewhere.
6. Stealing
Often gambling addicts will steal money or other items in order to finance their gambling addiction.
7. Depression and Suicidal Thoughts
Even though gambling brings about a feeling of euphoria, losing can cause a gambler to fall into a deep depression, especially when their debt rises and the gambling begins to cause problems. Sometimes the gambling addiction may cause so many problems that a person may contemplate suicide.
