Compulsive Gambling Signs: 6 Worse Symptoms You Need to Know
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Do you feel like you have no time except for gambling? Well, it must be one of the compulsive gambling signs that you should pay attention to.
Gambling is a fun game, actually. However, you must take control of it, not you are under the control of gambling. If you cannot manage all the things, you will probably become addicted. Yikes!.
Addiction to gambling sometimes is unconsciously like it is the result of someone’s psychological principle which is known as VRRS or Variable Ratio Reinforcement Schedule.
It is mood-stimulating rewards which are variable and unpredictable. The VRRS structure has long been recognized as a system that induces compulsion.
Compulsive Gambling Signs
Here are some of the symptoms of a gambling addiction that become obvious in pathological gamblers.
1. Lie About The Gambling Habits
If you lie to hide an addiction, then its behavior is a core symptom of any addiction, and gambling is no exception.
The desire to gamble is so strong. It can make people who are in love with that to do anything, lying or doing bad things to get money. Pathological gamblers even tell themselves lies.
When people act in ways that are inconsistent with how they should act, it causes psychological discomfort and cognitive dissonance.
The logical thing to do to relieve this psychological discomfort would be to stop the “bad” behavior.
2. Spend The Extra Assets
The gamblers may spend their lots of money on betting activities. However, when they are lost in the game, they will continue unconsciously and without thinking about the risks of spending their assets.
It is very usual when gamblers afford their house, car, golds, and anything else for gambling if they are addicted.
3. Affect to The Emotions
Compulsive gambling, it is like other types of process addiction. It is a disturbed coping mechanism used to mask negative emotions. In addition, it distracts and escapes from life’s stressors and problems.
Gambling causes the brain’s “feel-good” chemicals (neurotransmitters) to be produced and released, which are part of the brain’s reward system.
As a result, gambling gives temporary relief from negative emotions by making the person feel good for a short period of time. Its activities may also provide a welcome distraction from problem-solving activities.
However, when gambling addicts are not gambling, they may feel depressed, sluggish, unhappy, and irritable. Their emotions become out of control and dysfunctional.
Borrowing money for gambling is a major sign to the financial problem that gamblers often face. They will exhaust traditional methods of borrowing money, such as a line of credit, a bank loan, or a second mortgage.
Following that, they may have to rely on ultra-high interest loans, such as credit cards, payday loans, or even illegal loan sharks.
They are so desperate to keep gambling that they will go to almost any length to obtain more money, often believing that “this time” luck will be on their side and they will strike it rich.
5. Gamble Until Everything is Gone
Furthermore, the obsessive desire to gamble becomes so strong that even losing money does not stop them from gambling in the behavior.
They do not care to spend their savings and even gamble their paychecks, rent money, grocery money, and any other money they have available, no matter what the consequences are.
Going bankrupt as a result of gambling is a real possibility for someone with a gambling addiction.
This is the worst condition. Gamblers who are addicted suffer from the addiction which is unable to stop gambling. They usually try many times to cut back or stop, and while they may succeed for a short time, they always relapse.
Whoa… do you feel those six compulsive gambling signs too? If you do, please talk to your closest relatives and call the professional. You need help to get out of that bad behavior.