Can Conditioned Response Cure Gambling Addiction

[Lida93]

Gambling addiction develops through continuous repetition of habit, which is another word for Conditioned response, and this habit develops through stimuli, so a gambler who repeatedly gets excited through gambling develops an addiction.

It's doesn't even rely solely on how repetitive a gambler can be, but how hungry and passionate they are towards whatever games that it... The urge that makes addiction to thrive fast is GREED.

If gamblers who repeated get excited with gambling develops an addiction does getting sad and moody while gambling becomes an antidote against gambling addiction? Am asking because I don't get it how repeatedly gambling should be hooked on as a condition to addiction. It is not in the repetitions basically, but in the approach of the gambler.

I could repeatedly gamble and don't attach any form of value to it, taking it as something less to grow feelings about order than just a means to enjoy my time while standing a chance to make some cash. The next man's approach may be different from mine, his could be that of a means to an end, and that's where the GREED (as Sandra_hakeem said) comes in, and a lack of discipline is displayed leading to compulsive addiction.

Do you believe another stimulus [Conditioned Response] can replace the stimuli from gambling? So my question is, what is an effective stimulus [Conditioned Response] that can replace gambling addiction?

You don't have to suppress the urge by getting addicted to something else... Its not an ailment but definitely, it's a disorder. The best antidote for correction is allowing it to LEAVE YOU. Distract yourself with things that could also be of good to you instead - hit the gym!!!

Absolutely true about suppressive means of distraction to tame oneself away from gambling addiction. You could just be making the condition worse without knowing that that's where you're headed to. Occupying oneself with activities that brighten your mood and at same time makes you feel fulfilled afterwards without you struggling with yourself to engage in it, such practice can be helpful as it occupies the time you would have spent on feeding your gambling addiction.

[Fiatless]

This reminds me of the psychology course our department borrowed when I was in school that condition stimulus was talked about in which ringing of a bell and feeding of dog after was used for the explanation. If the bell is later rang, the dog will salivates as the dog get use to it. But this is different from what we can associate with gambling in a way someone can stop gambling because of condition stimulus. That is not possible and I do not know how these can be associated together.

I also remember this theory of learning by Russian physiologist, Ivan Pavlov, who discussed Conditioning in dogs. Replacing conditioned stimulus with something else so that the unconditioned stimulus and unconditioned response will change is the main purpose of the thread. An example is if a hangout with friends gamblers (conditioned stimulus) triggers the urge (unconditioned stimulus) to gamble (unconditioned response). The individual can change this conditioned response by maybe changing his friends to those who play video games so that that urge to gamble will be replaced by the drive to play video games.

Do you believe another stimulus [Conditioned Response] can replace the stimuli from gambling? So my question is, what is an effective stimulus [Conditioned Response] that can replace gambling addiction?

Yeah, I believe that gambling can be substituted for other forms of entertainment. For me, movies, computer games,  playing football and online trading can reduce my gambling habit  

[michellee]

I think distracting to other things can help us to cure our gambling addiction. But that will need more effort to distract our minds from thinking about gambling. Not many people can leave gambling although they try harder because they can control their minds from leaving the gambling.

If addicted person to gambling doesn't have a big effort to cure his gambling addiction, he will not have a chance to cure his gambling addiction. We can not say that one thing can be effective for many people because that will depends on what his level of gambling addiction and what can makes him distract his minds from gambling. Maybe it needs observation to know how deep he is in the gambling games so professional can determine what therapy that person will do.

But he can try to cure himself by the help from other people without asking for professional help. But that will not easy as he can return to casino if he doesn't have a strong minds to control himself. If he can do something that different than playing gambling continuously, maybe he can be able to distract his minds from thinking about gambling.

[Julien_Olynpic]

The general principles of treating any addiction are the same. What are these principles? Firstly, it is deprivation from the factor causing the addiction. If you smoke, do not buy cigarettes; if you are a drug addict, make sure that drugs do not reach you. And if you are a gambler, make sure that you do not have the opportunity to visit gambling sites. Secondly, you should come up with some kind of hobby that would distract you from thoughts about gambling. It does not matter what kind of hobby it is. The main thing is that it distracts you, develops you and brings you pleasure. And the level of this pleasure should be comparable to the one you had when you were gambling.

[fullhdpixel]

Engaging in activities that provide a sense of achievement, such as learning a new skill, exercising, or pursuing creative outlets, could serve as new stimuli that gradually reduce the urge to gamble. It’s not an easy process, but with consistent effort, it might be possible to rewire those responses.

I agree with you because that way gambling addict will feel that they have other activities that are more enjoyable and can be done anytime without having to involve things like betting money, gradually all of this will lead gambling addicts to really reduce gambling activities.
In addition, there are many more positive activities or activities that can provide special stimulation for gambling addicts so that they can consider if what they do is much better than the gambling activities they have previously done.
But these various activities can only be done by people who really think about being able to cure themselves because basically healing and stopping gambling addiction must begin with the desires and intentions of each addict themselves.

He said that 'it was not an easy process' . That can have a double meaning. Not easy if our goal is to gamble less or quit it permanently because for sure the strong urge is still there especially if we are only getting started on combating it.

Another one that is not easy is to do some activities that he listed like learning a new skill and exercising. They are still very rewarding once we achieve them. He did not gave an easy example there but the one that I can think of right now is playing a video game. It is rewarding but can be dangerous like gambling if not controlled. Other acts are not gambling where we place our money as a form of bets but we still can spend money on them, like for example we buy a video game, we buy healthy foods, shoes, and others when we are exercising.

We buy a course (if it's about learning a new skill). I can say that it was still better than in gambling because we still can have the items that we bought, while in gambling, our money can only last a short period of time. I think that even the gambler has no intention to stop his habits, they can still be able to do the other activities that we talk above, and for those who are addicts, they won't say or do the steps to cure their selves if they are not serious about it.

[Hispo]

I believe it would be possible to threat gambling addiction with conditions responses, but the tricky part about it would be to trick the person being treated to associate gambling with some negative feelings.
I have read about these techniques but under different names: like unconscious programming, widely used in developing nations to try to make homosexual people not longer be homosexual.
It is concerned to be a technique is goes against human rights of those who are forcibly treated.
An experiment which comes to mind to combat gambling addiction thought these techniques would make the whole experience unforcomfotable for the gambler and it it could possibly make the gambler to quit in the long term from wagering money in any shape or form.

Here are further references to what people call "conversion therapy".

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversion_therapy

[DaNNy001]

I think once this is established in your head it wouldn’t be as effective as it would be In replacing a bad response or conditioning in the brain. It is not as replaceable in my opinion, especially if the person is addicted already. maybe a different therapy or something could be done.

Yea the urge for gambling cannot be replaceable because what causes the urge to gamble is when you think that you want to use it to double your money. Profit is the reason why people gets addicted to gambling and I don't think that there is anything one can use to replace gambling that is also possible for it to bring you profit. Because no matter how discipline a gambler is, if he makes profit he will be excited. Self control and discipline is the only way to avoid gambling addiction.

Yeah nothing can replace the urge for gambling, people that claim to distract themselves with other things later find themselves relapsing because that urge to double your money always comes either when you spend or need money, only two things can help decision and discipline, these are very difficult attributes to inculcate but with time and consistency you would overcome.. stopping an habit can't happen in one day you will definitely go back and forth but if you keep putting in effort to stop you definitely will

[coin-investor]

This reminds me of the psychology course our department borrowed when I was in school that condition stimulus was talked about in which ringing of a bell and feeding of dog after was used for the explanation. If the bell is later rang, the dog will salivates as the dog get use to it. But this is different from what we can associate with gambling in a way someone can stop gambling because of condition stimulus. That is not possible and I do not know how these can be associated together.

I also remember this theory of learning by Russian physiologist, Ivan Pavlov, who discussed Conditioning in dogs. Replacing conditioned stimulus with something else so that the unconditioned stimulus and unconditioned response will change is the main purpose of the thread. An example is if a hangout with friends gamblers (conditioned stimulus) triggers the urge (unconditioned stimulus) to gamble (unconditioned response). The individual can change this conditioned response by maybe changing his friends to those who play video games so that that urge to gamble will be replaced by the drive to play video games.

Do you believe another stimulus [Conditioned Response] can replace the stimuli from gambling? So my question is, what is an effective stimulus [Conditioned Response] that can replace gambling addiction?

Yeah, I believe that gambling can be substituted for other forms of entertainment. For me, movies, computer games,  playing football and online trading can reduce my gambling habit  

Thanks for mentioning Pavlov. That is why I created this thread to discuss Pavlov's work, which, for me, is an excellent help to relatives because there is hope. All they need is to supersede the existing stimuli with another stimulus to fight the addiction; of course, help from professionals is a must because they are the ones who can set up an effective replacement of the existing stimuli.

I'm locking this thread. Thank you to those who participated in this discussion. We'll go on another discussion