When you play and experience pleasure, the set point of your mood increases temporarily and returns to normal afterwards. However, when gambling becomes compulsive, your mood setpoint may diminish, even when you're not playing. As a result, the player may experience depression. If gambling becomes a problem, it can lead to low self-esteem, stress, anxiety and depression.
Problems with gambling are detrimental to physical and psychological health. People living with this addiction may experience depression, migraine, distress, bowel disorders, and other anxiety-related problems. Because gambling can cause depression, anxiety, and tendencies to self-harm, there are several physical signs to be aware of. Depression and anxiety sometimes lead to lack of sleep, which can lead to pallor, weight gain or loss, acne and dark circles under the eyes.
If a person suspects that they may have a problem with gambling, there are a variety of self-assessments available on the Internet. Secondly, since gambling is a sedentary activity, prolonged play is likely to further contribute to the risk of obesity. Finally, family members of problem players experience substantially more physical and psychological difficulties. Winning, losing, and the arduous process of continuing to find ways to play can have a dramatic impact on mental health.
Increased accessibility, for example, through online gambling, requires greater awareness and appropriate legislation. In 2004, gambling became part of the mainstream of the United States thanks to the popularity of televised poker tournaments, fantasy sports and Unlike most casual players who stop by losing or set a loss limit, people with a gambling problem compulsive are forced to continue playing to get their money back, a pattern that becomes increasingly destructive over time. Some of these consequences may be permanent, while others tend to resolve as the behavior of the game is controlled. The DSM-V recently reclassified gambling addiction from being a problem with impulse control to a total addiction.
Gambling addiction often results in other addictions that serve as coping mechanisms for people who are stressed by activity. Finally, the social consequences of pathological gambling can be enormous, often ranging from participation in the legal system to loss of productivity at work and tense interpersonal relationships. A gambling addiction is a progressive addiction that can have many negative psychological, physical and social repercussions. This post originally appeared on Substance, a partner site of Pacific Standard, as “This is what it is when gambling is your drug.
For a person addicted to gambling, the sensation of playing is equivalent to taking a drug or drinking something. Like other psychiatric disorders, especially addictive disorders, almost every aspect of a pathological gambler's social life can be affected by continuous play.
