Topic: Signs of an addiction - page 26. (Read 3602 times)

I think that of course financial problems are the main sign of addiction. Everything else is secondary. And speaking in a more understandable language, all dependent people have large debts. It is also the dynamics of these debts that matters. If debts have a persistent tendency to increase and a person cannot do anything to stop the process of increasing debt or does not want to do so, then of course he is a dependent person.
   However, it is worth saying that some successful betting players were previously addicted people and struggled with debts. These are very rare cases, but they are still curious. This suggests that even addicted people need to be treated differently.

As addiction deepens, gamblers may start to increase the amount of money or time they spend gambling, believing they need to take bigger risks in order to experience the same rush. They’re betting higher amounts than before, or feel an urge to chase losses.

Gambling addiction often leads to poor decision-making. Making decisions that don't make sense financially or personally, gambling addiction may be at the core of it.

Neglecting everyday responsibilities whether it's work, relationships, or self-care because gambling takes precedence. If you’re missing work, skipping family events, or not keeping up with other commitments due to gambling, this is a major red flag.

Symptoms vary between users depending on how much they've lost in gambling. A person who has lost little will be in an urge to recover what he has lost and will be thinking of gambling and the different ways possible for the same. A person who has missed his life spending everything will be looking for an opportunity to make money so that he can spend it once again and recover back what he had lost earlier. In simple terms, once lost, the person's thinking will be surrounding the gambling activities and never come out of it. This is the start of real addiction. If one is able to realise it, then sharing the hard incident with a closer person and needing to focus on something else. This will help them come out of addiction. Maybe the person whom we share about the loss might scold, but that gives some relaxation, and some might give consoling words that would help us recover and understand the real gambling problems.

Just to mention that there are mild to extreme symptoms of gambling addiction. One can have mood swings when they experience a loss but it eventually goes away within a short duration. Which is normal. However the longer the duration that is how to measure if the symptoms is mild , moderate, or extreme. I think any mood swings resulting from gambling loss that goes beyond 24hours is an extreme sign.

Usually, there is no cause for alarm when the symptoms are mild because they can almost go away by themselves without any intervention but when it enters moderate to extreme symptoms, external help will be needed to fix it.

We always talk about gambling addiction here in forum but it all seems vague. What are actually signs or symptoms of gambling addiction that you can try and detect from yourself or other people?

#1 Mood swings: It’s normal to feel excitement or disappointment when gambling but extreme emotions due to gambling results that you are unable to shake off is not normal. Additionally, if one is irritable when they can’t gamble, that is probably a sign of gambling addiction already.

#2 Preoccupation/Isolation: If you constantly find yourself obsessing over your past gambling experiences and planning on what or how to do it next, you might have an addiction already. Similarly, if you can’t socialize anymore since you are just thinking about gambling then that is also not normal and should not be happening. One may even purposely avoid their friends and family to gamble or think about gambling.

#3: Denial/Concealment: Most addicts are in denial. They would never admit to having a problem. However they probably subconsciously feel that something is wrong or at least there is something they should not be doing. If you are hiding your gambling habits from friends or families, you might already know deep down that there is an addiction already.

#4 Inability to stop: I can gamble and still stop when I’ve had enough. Gambling addicts might not be able to do that. They will continue gambling and maybe even make up excuses for it such as “I will just take back what I lost” and many more.

#5 Financial issues: Once you start going out of your way to gamble even if you no longer have money, you have some serious addiction going now. Some will sell their belongings and even borrow money if it meant they could gamble.

Beware of these signs and detect gambling addictions early on so that you don’t fall in too deep. What other signs do you think we should be wary of?