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Love at first bet ““ it is a phenomenon that occurs with
about 5 percent of people who either become pathological or problem
gamblers.
Whether love happens after the first try or the third, those who
continuously gamble and allow it to have negative effects on their
personal relationships or financial affairs are considered addicted
according to the American Psychiatric Association’s
diagnostic criteria.
“Addicts keep their foot on the gas and their minds forget
to hit the brakes,” said Timothy Fong, co-director of the
UCLA Gambling Studies Program, about pathological gamblers.
While some may gamble as a harmless hobby, others lose control
and require a variety of treatments to overcome the obsession.
The reasoning behind why some fall in love with gambling and
others do not is a fairly new topic of research, Fong said.
Many factors can contribute to gambling addiction. For example,
exposure to gambling at a young age or psychological traits such as
risk-taking and impulsivity might be important.
“Genetic and biological factors may also play a
predisposing role in determining who does and does not become a
pathological gambler,” Fong said.
“The brain of a pathological gambler is very different
than that of a social gambler while they play,” he said.
The neurotransmitters dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine
play an important role in all addictions. In pathological gamblers,
certain imbalances in these systems are present prior to addiction
and put people at higher risk of developing such behavior,
according to an article by compulsive gambling specialist Lori
Rugle.
Dopamine is responsible for responses to reward and punishment
as well as pleasure and satisfaction. Addicts often have a dopamine
deficiency, and addictive behavior calms the effect of that
deficiency by stimulating the production of more dopamine in the
brain.
Serotonin manages the emotional system, and a lack of it can
cause depression and impulsive behavior. Norepinephrine controls
how we respond to danger, stress and anxiety.
Research has shown that people can have genetically determined
imbalances in these neurotransmitters even before they become
addicted.
The imbalances can cause some people to have more urgent needs
for reward and pleasure, or to be insensitive to losing. They may
also be prone to depression and impulsiveness because of a shortage
of serotonin. Addictions are attempts to balance these regions of
the brain but only succeed in creating more imbalances, Rugle
said.
All these biochemical factors suggest that gambling addiction
often goes hand in hand with other mental disorders, so some
treatments include antidepressant drugs for those who are both
depressed and addicted to gambling, Fong said.
Serotonin reuptake inhibitors, which are used to treat
obssessive-compulsive patients, are given to gambling addicts as
well to reduce anxiety.
But according to Rugle’s research, a person’s
mind-set has a significant say in how the brain works ““
biological factors make up less than 25 percent of the reason some
people become addicted and others do not.
The mind, she said, does something more than the brain: It makes
decisions. Individuals choose whether to meditate and pray to rid
themselves of fears, sadness and loneliness. Or they choose to
consume alcohol, shop, eat or gamble.
Gamblers Anonymous is a treatment group that helps addicts begin
making healthy choices with their minds. They employ a 12-step
treatment process, each step building upon the others until the
person reaches a state of understanding through prayer and
meditation of a higher life force.
The first step is acknowledgment, and the final step is service.
It is fundamentally based on ancient spiritual principles,
according to the program’s Web site. It is about reconnecting
the individual with a long-lost friend: himself.
Some religions also emphasize spiritual solutions to addiction.
The Rosicrucian Fellowship, for example, cautions against using any
substance that interferes with brain processes because it believes
those substances inhibit self-discovery and spiritual growth.
Fong, who treats patients at the UCLA Impulse Control Disorders
Clinic, employs a holistic process to treatment that revolves
around an interplay of biological, psychological and social
factors. It involves cognitive-behavioral therapy such as removing
gambling stimuli from patients’ environments. Medication,
family involvement and support are also possible treatments. Fong
says that treating this disease is difficult because of high
relapse rates. “The best treatment is to stay in
treatment,” Fong said.
He said it is also important to realize that pathological
gambling is a legitimate disorder.
“”˜Why can’t they just quit?’ is a widely
held notion about gambling addiction among many people,” said
Bruce Roberts, executive director of the California Council on
Problem Gambling. “It is a public health issue and it is
curable.”
The National Council on Problem Gambling has taken steps to
educate people about problem gambling and its prevalence around the
world. Since it is harder to break an addiction once it has
bloomed, the program attempts to stop addiction before it grows to
maturity.
But the reasoning behind why certain individuals fall in love
with gambling and others do not is still unknown and remains a
topic of research.