Topic: Cross addictions is Just as Bad. - page 3. (Read 716 times)

Agree with this.
We often tell a person who is an addict that the best way to combat addiction is to to find other activities that he/she is interested into as a form of distraction. 
In my opinion, cross addiction will be a bad thing if the habit we replace to our previous habit is just as equivalent as what we have replaced. For example, if someone is addicted to gambling, then his replacement would be drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes. Then we can say that this is a complete cycle of addiction because this is just as harmful as being a gambling addict because it's still harmful for him especially for his health. But is it possible that cross addiction can be a good thing? For instance, a gambling addict seeks out an alternative way of coping with his addiction by playing computer or mobile games. Yes, we can say that there is still an addiction but it is less harmful for him because it does not involve any amount of money.

I don't know what you mean by checking the goal of removing gambling addiction, what would be the thing that needs to be checked?
Anyways, this may be considered cross-addiction; however, his friend has a point. By making a decision to replace his gambling addiction with a cheaper one. Instead of spending up to $500, a monthly subscription of $20 is better, and completely enjoys himself playing.

OP's friend probably knows what he is doing, the moment he decides to get his gambling addiction to another thing, the intention is clear, and he wants to be in a better condition.

I was once addicted to alcoholic drinks then I gamble with lottery and now I am into gaming. 😅 When I was addicted to alcoholic drinks some years ago, I spent more than the amount I spent with gaming. Same with gambling though I am not addicted to it because it was just a short period of time betting on it but I refrain from it due to the high probability of losing in short I was not lucky. With gaming I can now control myself from addiction as I need to do it due to the signature campaign I am taking part right now to reach minimum quota that is why I need to manage my time and I am thankful the addiction was diverted to a much better one.

That can happen but not all cross addictions will be on this result.

But yes, most likely that it's gonna be like when the gambler that have cross addiction won't check himself out. Because it is important to check if you're still on the goal of removing the gambling addiction.

And when you happen to see yourself winning from it, don't lose yourself from the other activities that you're doing and as much as you can make yourself not to have a cross addiction, avoid that to happen.

You're just making it in the wrong direction though. What if the heroin addict turns to helm and then just gradually turns to cigarettes and then eventually just chewing gum? From bad to worse is also a cross-addiction. It's possible.

Say you have been into gambling for years then a cross addiction moving to chess tournaments. I've seen people addicted to chess. Maybe even gambling addiction to BTC trading which seems to be common here.

Yeah that most likely should work.For example you want to change career at some point because you are bored to death from your actual job and you quit gambling and buy quite some new courses on Udemy for the profession you want to change your career into it,this would be beneficial.

Cross addiction though is mostly related when you go from bad to worse,for example you go from gambling to alcohol and from alcohol to whores your life never seem to get on track again and as such it is a bad one,the above example is a good one which should be beneficial for the person.

and I completely agree that it can become worse than gambling(especially with all the events on a game that require money in order to fully enjoy the event, not to mention the "mystery boxes" that are basically gambling) if it is left untreated.

yeah, and that is what mental health professional help is for, they can help gambling addicts realize and acknowledge that they have an issue that needs to be addressed and treated.

- I think it's not unusual in this day and age because there are so many forms of entertainment that can lead to addiction. When we try to break a habit or addiction, we often seek out something else to occupy the time we used to spend on our previous addiction, thinking it will help us forget about it. But it's a bit like a cycle - we move from one habit to another. Unfortunately, these new habits often have some connection to the old addiction.
- This could be termed as a cross-addiction, as you mentioned, or a cycle of addiction. Only a few people have the courage to adopt a new, healthy habit or addiction, like getting addicted to sports, for instance. However, that group is quite small because, like sports, it isn't always easy to start with.

When someone is addicted on  gambling something else' that will come to our minds right away is to control the money it use in playing gambling as well, but it's not done that way, when you engaged in a gambling addicted, the person might forget about gambling when you look for something that is payable and will also consumed the person's times  and also pre informed the person concerning  gambling not to participate in gambling, its not that person will stop gambling totally but it will adjust in gambling because of the way people talk about gambling and anothing is understanding, their is some people who will not gamble again after your advice and some people will still continue

It's possible that he may even be suffering from multiple gambling addictions at the same time because he finds enjoyment in other things that he also spends his time doing. He moves between one activity that makes him addicted but makes no effort to stop his addiction. Maybe it's better if he does other activities that can provide more benefits than spending his time staying at home and playing games so that he can see the outside world which is more interesting.

And in fact, he has reduced or shifted his activities from gambling to playing games, but he still spends more time playing games. If you look at your expenses, he doesn't spend a lot of money, but if you look at his time, he still plays games more often than doing other things.

This is very common but at the same time it is a very dangerous development, and this is because once a person moves from one addiction to another there is nothing stopping them from suffering several addictions at the same time.

And while the argument of your friend makes some sense since he is spending less money now than what he spent on gambling, this is not going to last long, because as we know video games can be very expensive too and they have all kind of in-game purchases in which you can waste your money away.

It could be in the beginning, but we all know what is the definition of addiction, so maybe at the start you can say it's financially friendly. But later on you will spend a lot of money that you didn't notice as you slowly goes on another binge and then you began addicted, it could be worst that gambling.


Any of us will have to seek professional help as it is already an addiction. However, his friend or anyone of us should first acknowledge that we have addiction already before that intervention can help us. Otherwise it will be just a cycle, repeating itself for the addicts to fell again.

It's still addiction done in a different way and games if you're still spending money and time and you don't have control over these then it's addiction, addiction is addiction the mindset to get that dopamine effect is still there and the mind cannot cope up with it.

Cross-addiction will not work to cure gambling addiction because the player has no control over his actions, the only way to cure addiction is to regain control of spending a lot of money and time on gambling.

In my opinion, the most dangerous thing in gambling is losing money because of gambling, so when we can look for a new hobby that is cheaper, of course that is a good choice. However, switching gambling habits to another hobby is usually not easy because gamblers enjoy the sensation of risking money on gambling, not gambling games.

However, this method may work and there is no harm in trying it. There are many losses if we become a gambling addict, maybe we will go bankrupt, damage family relationships, and maybe end up committing suicide. We need to be aware of this possibility and start gambling responsibly

Any kind of addiction can have a negative effect.  For example if one diverts his addiction to work, then being a work addict will divert all his attention and effort to working.  Instead of having an uncontrollable urge to gamble, the scenario will be an uncontroallbe urge to work and this will have a negative effect to human body. 

This article[1] shows how overworking has negative effect on the human body and more on getting addicted to working.
To list what is stated:

• You’re not getting enough sleep
• You’re not eating during the day
• You’re not exercising
• You’re neglecting relationships
• You’re turning to drugs or alcohol

Here is another article[2] on how overworking affect the health and mental issue of a person.

In short, anything that is excessive is bad.

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[1] https://health.clevelandclinic.org/effects-of-working-too-much/
[2] https://www.passporthealthusa.com/employer-solutions/blog/2019-2-overworking-affect-physical-and-mental-health/

to his credit, his new addiction is far more financially friendly than his previous one, while I agree it would be much better to face his addiction head-on, I still think this is far better than his previous one(at least for me), unless he starts recklessly spending money on the game he is playing, what I meant about this is that there are "mystery box" features on games where you have a chance of getting rare to legendary items in the game, it is basically gambling but instead of winning money, you get in-game items.

anyway, in the end, your friend still needs some kind of professional help, his addiction may have changed to what I think a better one, but it is still an addiction that needs to be addressed.

Don't know if this is really a gambling topic but in terms of gambling addiction and replacing it with another I don't see that as a bad thing as long as the new addiction is less damaging to that individuals lives.  People can get addicted to healthy things like running, working out, reading, etc.  Then there is the opposite like opiods, etc which can literally kill you.  So I think it's all relative to the cross addiction you are talking about.

There are cases where people become addicted to computer or PS4 games, in these cases people do not spend money on these games, but because these people spend many hours playing on the computer, they start to arrive at work tired and very sleepy, and this starts to very negatively affect their performance at work to the point where the situation reaches the level of the person not going to work and lying that they are sick, while missing work because they were playing all day. I read cases like these, and it was something recent. The person lost their job, lost their wife and children because they became addicted to PS4 games. I no longer remember the name of the game the guy played

But according to him, it was an online game that allowed other people to play, the guy even got married within the game, meaning the guy was also indirectly cheating on his wife. and even with many warnings that the wife kept giving him, the guy didn't want to listen and as a result, after losing his job, he was no longer able to pay the household bills and the wife left with the children. months later they divorced and the wife stayed with another man, meaning he had to watch his children being raised by someone else, all because of the addiction. anything can make us addicted if we overdo it

What matters is, that these people are shifting their interest to something less risky as long as on the way, they manage not to make things worse.

For example, from addiction to gambling, the interest shifted to addiction to gadgets. Even though they spend lots of money purchasing several gadgets compared to what they spend during their gambling addiction, the benefits and advantages are still used by these people since they actually don't lose their money without anything good in return unlike in gambling where they literally lose money, and in return, they will end up regrettable on what they did.

Cross-addiction will just be bad if in some case, the worst just become worse in the long run.

In fact, everyone has an addiction and if the addiction has really disrupted your lifestyle then you have to try to stop it, and from the story that the OP told, i think cross-addiction is just as bad as gambling addiction, even though the money spent by the victim is not as much as When he is addicted to gambling, try to give advice to your friends or relatives so that they avoid any addiction, focus only on positive things such as reading, volunteering or exercising to divert the addiction they are experiencing.