The Hidden Addiction

IN ABERDEEN, Scotland, a man was sentenced to three years’ probation for using 13 credit cards – his own as well as those of other people. An internet gambling addict, the father of one, lost 158,000 pounds in an hour. Using a home computer, his addiction began with betting on football, one-armed bandits, and roulette. As his addiction grew, so did his gambling accounts. At one point, he had 13 separate gambling accounts on 13 separate credit cards.

In Minneapolis, Minnesota, a woman who said she was addicted to gambling was charged with several felonies, and may have embezzled up to $1 million from her employer. Over the course of 18 months, she altered her company’s books writing herself at least 60 fraudulent checks to cover gambling expenses.

In Guelph, Ontario, Canada, a woman was placed under house arrest for two years followed by three years probation for stealing almost $175,000 from her employer to finance a gambling addiction. The married mother of four pleaded guilty to theft and falsifying her company’s books in order to have funds for betting on horse racing, video poker and scratch tickets.

Worrying trends

It is becoming increasingly easier for people to gamble legally, comfortably and conveniently. Along with casinos, which are proliferating in communities small and large, gamblers can also visit racetracks, bingo halls, buy lottery tickets, purchase casino vacation packages, and gamble online at any hour of the day or night. Gamblers come from every segment of society: senior citizens, teenagers, women, men. In the United States, gambling activities have risen dramatically in recent years. For example, in 1998 the national Gambling Impact Study Commission found that 86 percent of Americans reported having gambled at least once in their lives. That compares to 68 percent who reported having gambled in 1997. In the US gambling is a $550 billion industry. In 1998 Americans said they lost $50 billion in legal wagering. Five years later (2003) that figure jumped to more than $72 billion.

What is a popular form of entertainment for many can become a deeply addictive, life destructive activity for others. For them, gambling is more than a harmless recreational activity. They live and work to gamble, often running up huge debts which lead to financial ruin, legal problems, career destruction, bankruptcy, loss of family and friends. Therapists refer to gambling as the ‘hidden’ addiction because there are no exposing physical signs of pathological behaviour such as needle marks, slurred speech, staggered steps, alcohol breath, dilated pupils. Here are some ways to deal with gambling, the hidden addiction.

Recognizing the problem

The first step toward recovery is to recognize when gambling becomes a problem. According to the National Council on Problem Gambling, this takes place when gambling behaviour “causes disruptions in any major area of life: psychological, physical, social or vocational. It is characterized by increasing preoccupation with gambling, a need to bet more money more frequently, restlessness or irritability when attempting to stop, ‘chasing’ losses, and loss of control manifested by continuation of the gambling behaviour in spite of mounting, serious, negative consequences”.

When looking at yourself to determine whether or not your gambling is a problem, be careful not to minimize or deny your involvement. Some people who are problem gamblers refuse to believe their activity has become addictive because it doesn’t involve a ‘substance’ such as drugs or alcohol. National Council on Problem Gambling challenges that denial this way: “Although no substance is ingested, the problem gambler gets the same effect from gambling as someone else might get from taking a tranquillizer or having a drink. The gambling alters the person’s mood and the gambler keeps repeating the behaviour attempting to achieve that same effect. But just as tolerance develops to drugs and alcohol, the gambler finds that it takes more and more of the gambling experience to achieve the same emotional effect as before”. As the craving to gamble increases, the gambler finds he or she has less and less ability to resist as the craving to gamble increases in intensity and frequency.

A useful test

Gamblers Anonymous, an international self-help recovery organization, offers the following 20 questions to more fully determine whether or not you have a gambling problem. Most problem or compulsive gamblers will answer ‘yes’ to at least seven of these questions:

       1. Did you ever lose time from work or school due to gambling?

       2. Has gambling ever made your home life unhappy?

       3. Did gambling affect your reputation?

       4. Have you ever felt remorse after gambling?

       5. Did you ever gamble to get money with which to pay debts or   otherwise solve financial difficulties?

       6. Did gambling cause a decrease in your ambition or efficiency?

       7. After losing did you feel you must return as soon as possible and win back your losses?

       8. After a win did you have a strong urge to return and win more?

       9. Did you often gamble until your last dollar was gone?

       10. Did you ever borrow to finance your gambling?

       11. Have you ever sold anything to finance gambling?

       12. Were you reluctant to use ‘gambling money’ for normal expenditures?

       13. Did gambling make you careless of the welfare of yourself or your family?

       14. Did you ever gamble longer than you had planned?

       15. Have you ever gambled to escape worry or trouble?

       16. Have you ever committed, or considered committing, an illegal act to finance gambling?

       17. Did gambling cause you to have difficulty sleeping?

       18. Do arguments, disappointments or frustrations create within you an urge to gamble?

       19. Did you ever have an urge to celebrate any good fortune by a few hours of gambling?

       20. Have you ever considered self destruction or suicide as a result of your gambling?        

A self-help group

It is very difficult, if not impossible, to break addictive behaviour alone or by reading articles and books about addictions. Individuals are more likely to recover when they have the ongoing support of others who have had a similar experience. One powerful, international self-help organization is Gambler’s Anonymous (see side bar). Participating in such a group made up of other compulsive gamblers provides an individual with the understanding and support necessary to recognize and respond to the issue. In a self-help group, people are able to talk about their activities and problems in a safe setting where they will be heard, understood and accepted. Rather than feel alone, misunderstood, isolated, they experience community, acceptance, and motivation to break the addiction.

How change takes place

Knowing what to expect can be helpful in order to break an addictive cycle. Psychologists James Prochaska and Carlo DiClemente have succinctly outlined these stages of addiction recovery:

         Precontemplation - you haven’t thought about changing.

         Contemplation - you have begun to muse that your life might be better if you did change.

        Preparation - you make a decision and start planning to change.

         Action - you take steps toward changing.

         Maintenance - you have had some success and now need to keep it in place.

Turn to a higher power

Initially an addict thinks, “I can control this. I can manage”. Yet addictions result in lives which are in disarray and unmanageable. There is a point when an addict needs to seek out help from a power greater than themselves. Pray for healing. The Bible reminds people that God can transform the most desperate of people and the most drastic of situations. The writer of 1 Samuel 2:6-8 says, “(God) raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap”. Or consider these words from Acts 3:19, “Repent… turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord”. Pray, asking God to help you conquer addiction. Here is an example of a prayer you can say:

       God of love, mercy and infinite patience -

       I admit my life is in disarray because of this addiction.

       I have hurt not only myself but others, causing broken

                                                   hearts and tortured minds.

        Give me strength for the work of recovery;

        Empower me to make amends with those whom I

                                have hurt because of my addiction.

        Restore to me the freedom of a child of God.

You can and will recover

Millions all around the world have battled against addictions of all types and have overcome them. Believe that you can join that glorious company. Consider one 56-year-old woman who, under the stress of several family losses, began to gamble. What began as an occasional recreational visit to one of about 100 gambling parlours in her city turned into a daily ritual. “I found the trips to the gaming centres a therapeutic way of relieving stress,” she says. Little by little, the visits became more and more intoxicating. Finally, she maxed out all of her credit cards and found herself with the sum total of 47 cents saved. She revealed her problem to her sister who encouraged her to call a gambling addicts hotline. Counsellors there recommended she see a therapist. “I haven’t gambled since I began counselling,” she now says and proudly proclaims she has now been ‘clean’ for 680 days.

Finally, remind yourself of this truth: when it comes to recovering from addiction, there are parts you can’t do alone and there are parts that only you can do. Breaking gambling addiction begins and ends with you. It all starts with your own profound, personal commitment to ending the addictive behaviour. You will recover only when you want to. 

WHERE TO GET MORE HELP

Gamblers Anonymous is an international organization. It was started by two men on Friday, September 13, 1957, in Los Angeles and can now be found in countries around the world. Their web site is: www.gamblersanonymous.org Gamblers Anonymous is a 12 step program based on spiritual principles and medical therapy. Here are the 12 steps of their program of recovery:

       1. We admitted we were powerless over gambling – that our lives had become unmanageable.

       2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restores us to a normal way of thinking and living.

       3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of this Power of our own understanding.

       4. Made a searching and fearless moral and financial inventory of ourselves.

       5. Admitted to ourselves to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

       6. Were entirely ready to have these defects of character removed.

       7. Humbly asked God (of our understanding) to remove our shortcomings.

       8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.

       9. Make direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

       10. Continued to take personal inventory, and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.

       11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us, and the power to carry that out.

       12. Having made an effort to practice these principles in all our affairs, we tried to carry this message to other compulsive gamblers.