Topic: Signs of an addiction - page 9. (Read 3532 times)

"Don't let yourself have a long free time, because if that happens then it can bring us closer to gambling and addiction."

I am a person who likes to pay attention to the conditions around me. And for example, some time ago my brother lost his job, so he had a lot of free time. And what happened was the more free time he had, the more often he gambled. And this can happen because when someone is used to gambling, then when he has money and free time, his mind will immediately focus on gambling. Which in the end this can not only result in financial losses, but his life becomes unproductive and lazy.

Apart from these, there are some other external behaviors that can be easily guessed that he is addicted to gambling. If a gambler is married he will misbehave with his wife and children after gambling and may even commit heinous acts like wife torture which is common in my country. And losing will surely put pressure on the wife to manage gambling money and torture for dowry.

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?

But the problem is that addicts will never be able to think about these things and all they can think about is how to get more money to gamble and how to win when gambling. They think that telling others about their gambling addiction will cause others to criticize them or discourage their gambling. That is also why many gambling addicts always try to hide their gambling addiction and make things worse.
If they really realized that sharing and opening up to people would help them overcome their gambling addiction, they would not become addicted to gambling.

It's not like no one doesn't want to lending money to a gambler, it's more like lending money to a gambler that doesn't know how to pay back. Some people have this sweet mouth to request for money, they will make you all sort of promises to pay back but as soon as you gave them the money, you will be the one to be running after them to pay back

and since debt isn't a police case, you don't have any power to hold them unless you charge them to court and that doesn't make sense.

Apart from these, there are some other external behaviors that can be easily guessed that he is addicted to gambling. If a gambler is married he will misbehave with his wife and children after gambling and may even commit heinous acts like wife torture which is common in my country. And losing will surely put pressure on the wife to manage gambling money and torture for dowry.

It is better for them not to hide what they are doing because it doesn’t help them, it only pushes them further into their gambling addiction. It is best to open up to family or friends to get advice and reminders. Let us face that the people around us often know what is best for us, especially in situations like this. And if sharing with family feels too hard, at least some of our friends know it.
Being a responsible gambler must exist in our minds rather been too quite and greedy.

It is better for them not to hide what they are doing because it doesn’t help them, it only pushes them further into their gambling addiction. It is best to open up to family or friends to get advice and reminders. Let us face that the people around us often know what is best for us, especially in situations like this. And if sharing with family feels too hard, at least some of our friends know it.
Being a responsible gambler must exist in our minds rather been too quite and greedy.

But don't forget that addicted person to gambling can hide their gambling addiction from other people and will say they are okay. They even don't show that they are playing gambling because they are smart enough to hide that. Maybe those signs happens to heavy addicted people to gambling so other people can see it clearly that he is change and different than before. It needs awareness from people around him so they can help it immediately before its too late.

Apart from these, there are some other external behaviors that can be easily guessed that he is addicted to gambling. If a gambler is married he will misbehave with his wife and children after gambling and may even commit heinous acts like wife torture which is common in my country. And losing will surely put pressure on the wife to manage gambling money and torture for dowry.

That happens in reality.

I also felt that moment when my dopamine was so high and thought that I can recover my losses, I was so hyper and never thought of losing but winning and recovering my losses only.

It was a wrong idea to proceed when feeling that emotion. And there is only one result that will come out later by doing so and that's to losing more and being more emotional which is not a good sign.

If one is addicted, there will be some signs and indications that are going to be manifesting from the way such person is gambling, his lifestyle and many things about him eventually will got changed, things like, refraining from friends, lack of money to gamble or do some other important things in life, self-seclusion and personal contempt, people around such an addicted fellow will also be observing the irresponsible way of gambling and how strange this is becoming.

If one is addicted, there will be some signs and indications that are going to be manifesting from the way such person is gambling, his lifestyle and many things about him eventually will got changed, things like, refraining from friends, lack of money to gamble or do some other important things in life, self-seclusion and personal contempt, people around such an addicted fellow will also be observing the irresponsible way of gambling and how strange this is becoming.

This is very accurate, some gamblers get to the point where they don't even care about winning or losing they just want to satisfy the urge to gamble, they make up excuses of trying to chase their losses but they are just getting spiked up by the dopamine effect of gambling. This is a psychological problem that wouldn't be easy to come out of. The moment gambling starts dictating how you feel then it has taken a toxic hold on you. When you have a dependency on something that's destructive it can ruin you. The only way to come out of this is by being disciplined and making consistent efforts to change.

I fully agree with you, the ones who borrow money to solve some of their financial issues or to buy some food for their family is good use of borrowing but it's not good at all to borrow money for gambling.

If someone becomes an addict then in most cases no one lend money to such people but if still somehow they get success in borrowing money then it would be problematic for both the borrower who gambles it away, and for the lender who might not get his/her money back.

All of them are correct especially that "inability to stop". A gambler can say that he is just chasing the losses but the truth behind it all is that he cannot explain that he is a gambling addict or he has no idea yet that he is already addicted to gambling until he realizes that he is almost depleting all his savings including the budget for the month or the week.
It's not chasing losses anymore when gambling is calling you in your head every day telling you to deposit one more time and try your luck. Then, it will be a never-ending one last time. This is where someone must help out, especially to that gambler who is close to him. They should know, they must know, and it's easy to tell with all their emotional swings.

Anyone that is already at this worst state, expect that he's not anymore at his good and critical thinking. He needs a medical practitioner that will guide and help him throughout the process, someone that he can trust and feel assured that he'll get recover soon.

Acceptance is the key. Being in denial won't help these gambling addicts. It will only make their condition worst, until they don't have chances to recover and feel good anymore.