Online Help For Addiction to Gambling
When you or a loved one needs help to break an addiction to gambling activities, please consider the effective therapy methods offered by the experienced staff and therapists at Hope Counseling Southeast. We provide a safe, caring environment where men and women can address the issues that led to problem gambling activities, and find real help and healing. We also help individuals improve family relationships, and return to everyday life as a better person.
Recognizing an Addiction to Gambling
According to the National Council on Problem Gambling, problem gambling affects more than 2 percent of Americans. If you have a gambling addiction, you may feel an uncontrollable urge to buy lottery tickets, visit casinos, play slot machines, bet on sports, or gamble online. The specific type and frequency of your gambling behavior may vary. But in general, you will be unable to control that behavior. You will continue gambling, even in the face of negative social, financial, or legal consequences.
The majority of people with gambling addictions are men. But this type of addiction can also affect women.
“Addiction is manifested in several ways,” says addict-turned-counselor Ryan Cain, “First, the concept of craving, or in the case of gambling, obsession, begins. Second, an individual becomes powerless over their addictions and loses control. Third, an addicted person will continue to act out despite negative consequences.”
When you have a gambling addiction, an area of your brain called the insula may be overactive. This hyperactive region may lead to distorted thinking. This can cause you to see patterns in random sequences and continue gambling after near misses.
Your brain may respond to the act of gambling in the same way that an alcoholic’s brain responds to a drink. The more you feed your habit, the worse it will become.
Any type of gambling — whether racing, bingo, card games, dice games, lottery, slots, and sports betting — can become problematic. However, some types of gambling have particular characteristics that may intensify the problem and the consequences.
Reports indicate that a significant risk factor may be a fast speed of play. Types of games where there is a short time between placing a bet and seeing the results present a higher risk for players. This happens with slot machines, for instance.
Signs and symptoms of compulsive gambling include:
- Preoccupation with gambling
- An increase in the amount of money you need to gamble in order to maintain the thrill
- Failure to cut back or quit gambling
- Gambling to escape problems
- Lying about the extent of your gambling
- Jeopardizing relationships, work, or responsibilities because of gambling
- Relying on others to bail you out because you gambled the money away
The Mayo Clinic says, “Unlike most casual gamblers who stop when losing or set a loss limit, people with a compulsive gambling problem are compelled to keep playing to recover their money — a pattern that becomes increasingly destructive over time.”
The first step in treating gambling addiction, as with any addiction, is to acknowledge that there is a problem. Addressing the issue is the first step towards recovery and change. There are a variety of methods to help treat gambling addiction.
A recovery program, one-on-one counseling, medication, and lifestyle changes may help you overcome your gambling addiction. If you don’t treat your gambling problem, it can lead to serious financial issues. It can also negatively affect your relationships with family members, friends, and others. Effective treatment can help you avoid these consequences and mend your relationships through recovery.
Hope Counseling Southeast Offers In-Person or Online Counseling
Hope Counseling is a Teen Challenge Southeast drug and alcohol addiction outpatient and online counseling center. We are a low-cost, effective option. As a faith-based solution, we work with the whole person, solving the underlying initial causes of addiction, getting these addictive substances out of the individual’s system, and giving enough time, encouragement, and training to ensure the addiction doesn’t return.
Christian Addiction Help That Fits Your Schedule!
Hope Counseling now offers Christian addiction help and support services via a secure virtual environment. Our telehealth counseling option allows clients to receive or continue group-based or individual treatment without needing an in-person visit.
If you want to learn more about Hope Counseling Christian addiction help effectively healing men, women, and teens, please call 855-981-8542
"NO WARRANTY" LEGAL NOTICE: While independent outcomes studies have shown very high recovery rates for indiviuals in our programs, we cannot guarantee recovery for any particular individual. Recovery and future abstinence from addicting substances and the effects that such substances may have on the individual or their life, actions, or their future are entirely dependent on the individual and how well they apply the principles we have taught them. We are an educational institution, and how the individual in our program learns from what they are taught and modeled here, is totally up to them. Individuals who stay the full term (until graduation) have much better long-term recovery from addicitons than those who do not.
