The psychological mechanisms of gambling addiction.

[Joy- maker]

I have come across many threads where other aspects of gambling addiction are been discussed, but have not come across any thread where the psychological mechanisms of gambling addiction is been discussed, and before we can be able to shape out treatment plans for gambling disorder, we have to first of all understand the root causes of gambling disorder. Because The thrill of taking Risk, rush to adrenaline and promise of a big win can be intoxicating. We all see gambling in different form, some of us here see gambling as a harmless form of entertainment, while for other gambling becomes a debilitating addiction. And as we all know gambling addiction is affecting millions of the world population, causing financial ruin, strained relationships and emotional distress. But understanding the psychological factors driving this gambling addiction we enable us develop effective treatment and support system. That's why it is very important to examine this mechanism an going list below:

COGNITIVE DISTORTIONS: cognitive distortions contribute to gambling addiction, because they alter how we humans perceive the ability of controlling or predicting the outcomes.

EMOTIONAL MECHANISMS :  gambling addiction can also be motivated by emotional factors, because a lot person's out there often turn to gambling as a way of regulating their emotions or a wey of escaping from psychological distress.

REWARD SENSITIVITY: some person's with gambling addiction often exhibit heightened reward sensitivity. That's to say that people with gambling are more responsive to immediate and the excitement gambling offers.

ILLUSION OF CONTROL: illusion of control is seen to be a cognitive bias whereby some person's that they can influence the outcome of random events, such as spinning roulette wheel or rolling dice. And this believe have made a lot person's to overestimate their ability, believing that they can control results, and this believe have made some person's to engage in excessive gambling and the excessive gambling had led into being addicted to gambling.

GAMBLER'S FALLACY: gambler's fallacy can also lead to gambling addiction, because a lot of gambler's out there often have this mistaken believe that the outcomes of previous gambling event affects the future results. As in after some series of looses, some gamblers believe that their luck will come soon making them to gamble till their luck come.

REINFORCEMENT SCHEDULE : reinforcement schedule can also lead to gambling addiction, because over time gambling can automatically lead someone into getting addicted to gambling, and the more someone engage in gambling activities the more it becomes difficult for the person to resist the urge of gambling.

ESCAPISM: some person's have this  believe that gambling can serve as a form of escapism, as in they think that by engaging in gambling activities can offer them relief from personal problems, boredom or dissatisfaction with life. As in by engaging in gambling activities makes them believe that they can avoid dealing with difficult emotions or life circumstances, without knowing that by seeing gambling as a form coping mechanism can even make them get addicted to gambling.

Although there are other psychological mechanisms of gambling addiction, but few to be mentioned. Below is the source link for fother reading

[Dunamisx]

None is advisable to have in addiction with gambling, be it physical or psychological, we must be able to prevent ourselves form any of these, because the consequence too are not what we may be able to afford, as prevention is better than cure, we cant watch in our eye until things get more worse before we know what we should have applied against it, everyone of us need to check form time to time, if we are not missing out on the expectations to gambling.

[qwertyup23]

Just to add on the extensive list you provided OP, this also applies to any kind of addiction. The problem with gambling addiction stems from its very nature especially considering that finances and money are involved.

Just like with any other addiction, everything can spiral out of control when left untreated and unresolved for a period of time. Not to mention, its constant exposure to the younger generation make them the perfect catalyst in creating tons of problems for them in the future.

I appreciate that you explained the psychological side of gambling where it affects not only our physical and mental well-being, but also our psychological instincts and perception.

[acroman08]

Regarding escapism, sadly, a lot of people develop gambling addiction despite just wanting to entertain themselves and wanting to have a brief escape from their personal problems. At some point, gambling for them has become a coping mechanism, and they are relying on it more and more, ultimately developing a gambling addiction.

Also, a bit of a tidbit, escapism is one of the leading causes of alcohol addiction. I mean, just like in gambling, they use alcohol as a way to get relief from their personal problems, boredom or dissatisfaction with life, which eventually end up with addiction.

[rachael9385]

This is a very educative topic, the points I have some idea on are tht illusion of control and escapism. Illusion of control can be a mental construct that keeps people hooked. Some believe that they have a system there is something that they can do to stay winning perhaps they got lucky coincidentally after doing and felt like it can keep working, this leads to addiction. Escapism is common among gamblers, some try to use it as a coping mechanism to deal with stress

[Cryptohygenic]

You made a genuine expression where you stated that some people sees gambling as harmful activity while some sees it harmless but the reality is that you can be responsible player if really you don't take it too personal that it is a convenient place to spend your whole free times or an alternative avenue of generating incomes.
Those who falls victim to addiction are those who have the saying that it is easier said than done. They become ignorant in the short or mid term that of they are not disciplined, they may become victim or regrets their actions in the long term.

[Su-asa]

EMOTIONAL MECHANISMS :  gambling addiction can also be motivated by emotional factors, because a lot person's out there often turn to gambling as a way of regulating their emotions or a wey of escaping from psychological distress.

Emotions is even the number one thing that actually makes gamblers to become more addictive to gamble. Which is why everyone who's into gambling should just risk what they can afford to risk so that just in case they didn't win, they will not be emotionally depressed and think about chasing their lose. All gamblers should gamble responsibly just to avoid being addicted. Addiction have cause a lot of harm than good, which is why it should be avoided at all cost.

[Mia Chloe]

~snip

Overtime, you'll discover that gambling addiction actually springs up from uncontrolled emotions and habits as they are the two main areas where people flaw alot. The idea of a jackpot has effect on how you perceive a particular bet and also sometimes determines how much risk you will end up taking just to ensure you bag the win.
Where another problem comes from is ignoring the fact that chances of losses are always there regardless of how sure per say the bet is.

[Findingnemo]

I had threads about gambler's fallacy and illusion of control but this article you posted combined most of the contributing factors to the gambling addiction.

Our mind is tricked from the dopamine and enjoying the feeling so it manipulate us to keep giving it more and more which is the common factors involved in any kind of addiction which is why it is important to know our limits when we try a new habit so it can be what is supposed to be and keep the fun in place.

[Joy- maker]

Regarding escapism, sadly, a lot of people develop gambling addiction despite just wanting to entertain themselves and wanting to have a brief escape from their personal problems. At some point, gambling for them has become a coping mechanism, and they are relying on it more and more, ultimately developing a gambling addiction.

Also, a bit of a tidbit, escapism is one of the leading causes of alcohol addiction. I mean, just like in gambling, they use alcohol as a way to get relief from their personal problems, boredom or dissatisfaction with life, which eventually end up with addiction.

exactly some person's goes into gambling activities just for the purpose of using it as an escape from some personal problems, without knowing that this avoidance behaviour strengthens gambling as a coping mechanism, making it more difficult for them to break the cycle of addiction.  creating more bigger problems for themselves, I can remember back then when i became addicted to a particular substance, although the substance was locally made in my country, now the question is why was I taking this particular substance and got myself addicted to this particular substance? The answer is very simple, because when ever I take this particular substance, it relief's me a lot from personal problems and  it won't allow me to have space to over think myself over some certain challenges, because it will takes me straight to cloud 9. And gest what buddy, I passed through hell before I was able to escape from that substance addiction. And same thing applies to gambling when you see it as an escape mechanism from personal problems you will get addicted to it, because you won't know when you will over do it and get yourself addicted to gambling.

[Perfectbaby]

None is advisable to have in addiction with gambling, be it physical or psychological, we must be able to prevent ourselves form any of these, because the consequence too are not what we may be able to afford, as prevention is better than cure, we cant watch in our eye until things get more worse before we know what we should have applied against it, everyone of us need to check form time to time, if we are not missing out on the expectations to gambling.

Checking ourselves time to time on how we gambles is most important thing we should do while gambling otherwise we could fall out of fate, gambling is fun but I think for healthy gambling we should learn to set some odds in our line while gambling because whatever we do may barely happen to us and affect us entirely to every action we takes.

[Aanuoluwatofunmi]

Any influence you've seen from a gambler is as a result of how they have taken gambling in their own personal interpretation, we all gambles but not everyone of us has the same approach on it, how we sees it differs from each other.

Addiction does not set in just like that, most times it sprout up from incessant indiscipline from how many are gambling, while after everything piles up turned to be what we see as addiction more often, we can decide of whom we want to become, this is just a matter of how we live our life as a gambler and the way we have been gambling with ideal manners.

[mcdouglasx]

It's curious that we talk a lot about gambling addictions here, but very little about personal experiences with gambling addiction. Perhaps out of fear of being judged, or rejected, or simply because they feel ashamed, as if this weren't a psychological condition that anyone could suffer from.

I would add to that list something like fear of failure or resistance to recognition, since I believe it's the first step an addict takes to recognize their bad habits and improve as an individual.

[Churchillvv]

Escapism is one thing that people usually take likely, it’s more of a negative and positive attitude that could be very beneficial if taking in the right direction but some of the times people since to chose something that can put them in more trouble over the other positive things, to buttress this; if one is caught up in any kind of situation that pushes them to do something, if they consider things like drawing or arts or something very creative they can become addicts to it and on the long run they could even make fortune from their misery. But if they channel this energy to gamble they only turn to addicts and ruin at the end.

[Mahanton]

Regarding escapism, sadly, a lot of people develop gambling addiction despite just wanting to entertain themselves and wanting to have a brief escape from their personal problems. At some point, gambling for them has become a coping mechanism, and they are relying on it more and more, ultimately developing a gambling addiction.

Also, a bit of a tidbit, escapism is one of the leading causes of alcohol addiction. I mean, just like in gambling, they use alcohol as a way to get relief from their personal problems, boredom or dissatisfaction with life, which eventually end up with addiction.

exactly some person's goes into gambling activities just for the purpose of using it as an escape from some personal problems, without knowing that this avoidance behaviour strengthens gambling as a coping mechanism, making it more difficult for them to break the cycle of addiction.  creating more bigger problems for themselves, I can remember back then when i became addicted to a particular substance, although the substance was locally made in my country, now the question is why was I taking this particular substance and got myself addicted to this particular substance? The answer is very simple, because when ever I take this particular substance, it relief's me a lot from personal problems and  it won't allow me to have space to over think myself over some certain challenges, because it will takes me straight to cloud 9. And gest what buddy, I passed through hell before I was able to escape from that substance addiction. And same thing applies to gambling when you see it as an escape mechanism from personal problems you will get addicted to it, because you won't know when you will over do it and get yourself addicted to gambling.

A lot of people don’t start gambling or drinking to get addicted they start because they just want to forget their problems for a while maybe they’re stressed lonely or going through something heavy and they find temporary comfort in things like gambling or alcohol but what starts as a short escape slowly becomes a habit then a dependency because it tricks the mind into thinking that’s the only way to feel better. When someone uses gambling as a coping mechanism it gives them a brief sense of relief like the rush of winning or even just the distraction from reality but the moment it wears off everything they were trying to escape comes back stronger so they gamble again to feel that same relief and before they know it the cycle has taken over their life the brain starts associating gambling with comfort and happiness and that’s when addiction forms.

Your story about substance addiction really shows how similar it is across all addictions whether it’s drugs alcohol or gambling it’s not just about the activity itself it’s about the emotion behind it people want to numb pain or silence their thoughts for a moment but the escape always comes with a price once the effect fades you’re left worse off than before and the craving gets stronger. Breaking free from that cycle takes real strength and self awareness it means facing the problems you were running from and finding healthier ways to deal with them like talking to someone you trust exercising writing or finding a hobby that gives peace instead of guilt.

[Oluwa-btc]

Escapism mechanism is really overwhelming y feel for it's victims.There's usually this ironic feelings that erupts in a gamblers mind and hope.Meanwhile,Its a psychological mechanism that can be harnessed individually yet positively.This belief is irrational and most off all unhealthy.

[iv4n]

You are overthinking it... We are all addicted to many things, and among everything else, some of us are also addicted to gambling. And what now? It's up to us to control it and be responsible... or at least we can try the best we can.

These "psychological mechanisms" can be applied to life, love, alcohol, drugs, and so on... We are all sensitive to different rewards, we all suffer from the illusion of control, and we all escape from stress by enjoying activities we like. It's all just life, teaching us something new every day...

[Odogwu-Blockchain]

Any influence you've seen from a gambler is as a result of how they have taken gambling in their own personal interpretation, we all gambles but not everyone of us has the same approach on it, how we sees it differs from each other.

Yes, some people gamble for money while some for fun, this approach keeps people in a loop they set for themselves and so the reciprocal results from each approach occurs on them individually.

Addiction does not set in just like that, most times it sprout up from incessant indiscipline from how many are gambling, while after everything piles up turned to be what we see as addiction more often, we can decide of whom we want to become, this is just a matter of how we live our life as a gambler and the way we have been gambling with ideal manners.

You know addiction in gambling starts the time we actually think we need it for survival, for easing the stress and many more excuses while deeply, the addictive gene is growing.

It's more easier to be addicted when a user is not fully engaged in certain activities, but always free.

[GeorgeJohn]

I refute the fact that fallacy can cause a gambling addiction....Reason why fallacy can't caused gambling addiction is that, before you becomes addicted in gambling you have already partake more than five times and more, so nobody will deceive you again by telling you the scenarios of gambling

You have experience both the negative side of gambling and positive side of it, because for you to attempt neither twice or not, it neither been that you lost or you gain...A gambling addiction sometimes always be a deliberate act that leads to addiction..And the most important thing that causes gambling addiction is greediness

Especially when someone is looking for a way to multiply what he has or to get what his or her don't have, theirs no environmental influence that leads gambling addiction, but environmental influence can lead to experience gambling, both of them are two different things...that's why I refute the words fallacy, that it maybe a caused of gambling addiction...I disagree with that point.

[SUPERSAIAN]

The gambler's fallacy has to be one of the most common. Gamblers, once they win a large prize, wholeheartedly believe it will happen again. In reality, we want to experience that dopamine rush again, which is why we fall into this trap. Unfortunately, gambling again, hoping to win that large prize again, only to lose it all, is a common occurrence. When gambling and money are involved, many illusions occur.