Gambling Addiction Needs Compassion, Not Judgment

[Finestream]

You're right OP, gambling addiction does not need to be judged, because it will never help the gambler itself, but rather what he needs is genuine understanding and a good support system that will help him throughout his healing, and the more he feels that he is still loved and deeply cared, the more he will be more encouraged to correct his mistakes and finally do therapies so he can change himself to the best version he is capable of becoming.

Gambling addiction isn't a choice or a destination, but a result of wrong decision-making that can still be corrected if he is willing to change.

[Bright0515]

Gambling addiction is a struggle and a lot of cases there are people that really want to stop this addiction but they cannot really do it because of how deep they have gotten in it. There should be no sort of judgement or anything that is going to be too harsh on them. Most people that are addicted don't even talk about their addiction because they are scared of what others might say about them. Just because people are addicted to gambling doesn't mean that they haven't tried one way or the other that stop this addiction.

[macson]

If a gambling addict truly wants to overcome their addiction, they deserve compassion. If we instead blame them for it and use other negative language, their condition will only worsen, and worse, they may resort to suicide due to a lack of support. They don't want to experience this and want to recover quickly, so moral support should be prioritized due to their unstable mental health.

[Versatile_choice]

but rather what he needs is genuine understanding and a good support system that will help him throughout his healing,

Understanding what exactly? There's nothing to understand because it's obvious that they are addicted to gamble. Well, about this aspect of support, yes it's very necessary because during that time they might be going through a lot inside and you wouldn't know. that is why we don't need to judge someone who is in such situation because judging them might even make things to get worse as they will be thinking of what to do that very moment to shake their heads off from all the blames and/ or feelings and this include; committing suicide or something that could make them forget everything that happened.

[sana54210]

One anime character once said, we will never feel someone's pain if we never feel it. Being an addict is not an easy life to live, there are many distractions everywhere, not to mention the financial problems that come with it. Honestly, I never joke with someone about the problems they have, because when someone has those problems, we should show compassion or at least keep quiet, don't mock them.

Me neither, never joked about anyone's addiction. At the same time, I feel like they are only themselves to blame because gambling addiction is basically the result of extreme greed and the desire to make free money. Free money doesn't exist anywhere in the world and nor in the gambling houses. In fact, gambling sites identify and restrict winning gamblers who are beating the house through various techniques like abusing bonuses, betting on rigged stuff, etc.

Not underestimating problem gambling because I know it's deadly but the only way one comes out of it is by sheer will. Yeah, you can find outside help but eventually, at some point you will again have access to the internet and funds and nothing stops you from gambling again, except for a promise to yourself.

[Hazink]

Gambling addiction is not something anyone would wish for the next person. It's something we should not encourage anyone to fall into and when something like that happens, we should not talk down on them as if they voluntarily allowed themselves to get addicted. They are those who try their best to not get addicted but still fall into it because they are weak in controlling their emotions.

[Slimzeee]

Nobody wants to be publicly shamed, especially addicted gamblers, for being addicted to it, even when they know that what they are doing isn’t really encouraging behavior.

Shaming the person doesn’t in any way help them and might even lead to their withdrawal.

However, if you discover a gambling addiction in a loved one, I would simply advise that you go through the professional route of seeking help for them. It is very important to do so if you love the person and want better for them.

[lombok]

Gambling addiction is not something anyone would wish for the next person. It's something we should not encourage anyone to fall into and when something like that happens, we should not talk down on them as if they voluntarily allowed themselves to get addicted. They are those who try their best to not get addicted but still fall into it because they are weak in controlling their emotions.

You are correct, not easy to deal with any gambling addiction. Emotion can become the primary adversary, holding them in the vicious circle of gambling. Do not offend any person who fight against this issue. They need to place empathy first as they stand chance of transforming their live and get out of the merciless grips of gambling.

[Hispo]

You will never really understand how serious gambling addiction is unless you experience it yourself. We have all seen some topics and news about people being reported as gambling addicts. Sometimes we just laugh, sometimes we blame them for their stupidity instead of showing compassion.

I say this because I experienced it myself. It is not easy to be addicted and no one really wishes to be addicted, it just happens. We who experience this are victims of our own weakness in gambling, lack of emotional control and bad decision making.

So we have to be careful with the words we throw at someone, especially when we know they are already in a delicate situation. It becomes easier to understand them when we try to understand the situation they are really in.

I agree with you, we are all supposed to show apathy and compassion to people who are addicted to anything, gambling included, but we also need to keep context in mind, because not all gambling addicts are the same and behave the same.

I can see myself showing compassion to some gambling addict which would come to me in order to ask for advice and help to control himself, but it would be very difficult to me to show compassion for a person who is addicted to gambling and still believes to be in control over his money, and does not take advices and comments from others so he would avoid financial ruin.
There are addicts which have a very bad actitude and believe all people who try to help him are wrong.

In that context, I cannot give compassion to those kind of gambling addicts, and unfortunately there are a lot of those within this ecosystem.

[Fredomago]

Sometimes we can't even know the depth of our words, and we can easily pass them on to someone, blaming them for what they did and making them feel like they did something terribly wrong with no way to return. Until you experience it for yourself, you may not understand. I was thinking about how celebrities come on screen and talk about how they are criticized and how traumatized they have been by it. I usually laughed at such things, but one day, when someone said something that wasn't too weird but was unacceptable to my mind, I thought about it a lot. I realized that, in my case, the thing wasn't harsh, it was just someone's words. I thought about it a lot, and then I imagined how they must feel when they read the comment section or when someone makes a video totally against them.

That's reality, most of the time when you are not in the situation or you haven't got to know someone in the same shoe it's easy to throw words and blame someone for their mistake, but once you or a close relative or friend experience that same situation, you'll then realize how hard those words that you've said, there's always a proper way to address situation like this, if you think you have the influence to that person who are involve better not to use that authority to blame but to help finding the right cure or right way to move them out and bring them to where they should be.

[Miles2006]

Gambling addiction is beyond what we can imagine, the real deal here is seeing people commit murder as a result of loss. Anyone can quit gambling addiction if they decide to but, it takes time although I don’t like the fact decision making on how to stop is being forced upon a person and sincerely if care it not taken people intend to lose their mind at that state struggling to quit yet the urge keeps coming, I get the point op is trying to create saying we should encourage addicts and not judge which is well understandable and valid though addicts need to start from the little approach and in order to do that is by creating more awareness on addiction and the signs maybe people are willing to learn mostly newbies so they’ll not become an addict, these methods help to remind anyone who’s spending more money or gambling irresponsibly definitely this is the one thing that leads to addiction.

[Queen uloma]

The truth is that, if you’ve not experience gambling addiction before, it will be hard for you to understand how serious it is. Most times if we hear that someone is addicted to Gambling, it’s may sound funny or some  times we will even start calling the person foolish instead of showing them compassion. I have experience this before. Addiction is not an easy thing and nobody wakes up one day to become an addict. It’s just happened. Many of us that passed through this are victims of our own weakness, decisions and lack of emotional control. That’s why we need to be very careful with the words we throw at people because they’re also human, especially when they’re in a delicate situation. It is easier to understand people when we first understand what they are going through.

[Coin_info]

Gambling addiction is beyond what we can imagine,

It is exactly because some people know that they will be judged if others know that they are addicts to gambling That is why they hide it and do not speak out openly or ask for help. If people know that they would receive more compassion from others if they speak up about their battle with addiction to gambling they will be more open about it and ask for help And by asking for help they were able to get help better. There has to be orientation on the societal level because many people need to correct their thinking and perspective of addicts because this person is also struggling for help I would like a different lifestyle even as you yourself would want for them.

[Sonia_123]

Addicts needs to be well taken care of when addicted because they are humans and needs attention even if gone astray
 
In gambling, one needs to have self control and be satisfy with whatever amount you gamble with to avoid addiction and that is why you have to set a limit in bankroll and time and get used to it no matter how little it is, in that way addiction will be reduced .

[Cantsay]

Well, a lot of people are quick to judge, the moment you try to open up to them, rather than to help provide you with a solution, they will first tell you things that make you regret your entire decision of ever opening to them in the first place.

If you take a closer look at people who are into gambling and are addicted to it, you will see that they would rather go out and talk to a stranger than to talk to a close relative about their problem, because they are going to be bashed by their relatives before solutions are suggested by them and in most cases, they might not even offer to help you.

[Alpha Marine]

The thing is no matter what, a gambler cannot control himself from being addicted, once you start gambling you must become addicted, the only way one can chose not to become addicted is to completely avoid gambling from the onset, once gamble and taste lose or win you will definitely want to gamble again,

This is so false.
You can gamble without being addicted. I don't think you understand what addiction is. I gamble, but I am not addicted. I stick to my budget, never gamble above the amount I set for myself, and whenever I don't have the budget to gamble, I simply don't gamble. I can even go days without gambling if I don't want to. SO you can't say anybody who gambles is an addict.

Also, if a person chases his losses, it doesn't mean the person is an addict. It is a bad gambling behaviour that can turn a person into an addict if it's not checked, but that act on its own does not make a person an addict. Even betting amounts that are above your budget do not mean you are an addict. It could be a one-time mistake.

A gambler can also control himself from being addicted. Addiction doesn't just start one day. It's a process. If you pay attention to yourself, you will notice the signs and see that you're going down a rabbit hole. You need self-awareness and also be honest with yourself. When you see yourself exhibiting signs of addiction, take a break. Just stop gambling for a while before it's too late. It also helps a lot if you talk to somebody about it. It could be a friend or family member you trust, or a preffessional.

[o48o]

You will never really understand how serious gambling addiction is unless you experience it yourself. We have all seen some topics and news about people being reported as gambling addicts. Sometimes we just laugh, sometimes we blame them for their stupidity instead of showing compassion.

I say this because I experienced it myself. It is not easy to be addicted and no one really wishes to be addicted, it just happens. We who experience this are victims of our own weakness in gambling, lack of emotional control and bad decision making.

So we have to be careful with the words we throw at someone, especially when we know they are already in a delicate situation. It becomes easier to understand them when we try to understand the situation they are really in.

Empathy takes real effort to take point of view of other's perspective, but as they are so used their own viewpoint, they don't see how their own privileges affect their decision making. They just see choices of everyone else comparable to theirs.

It's hard to understand people with different backgrounds, not to mention people with different brain chemistries. Judgement comes easily when people actually think that everyone has same capacity to choose with same effort. Even addicts have different backgrounds and differ from each other. So even if you are an addict, you might not be able to relate the problems of other addicts. You can just show compassion on the road of recovery.

[Cryptohygenic]

You will never really understand how serious gambling addiction is unless you experience it yourself.

It is really clear that experience serves the best teachers but there are events to be prohibited and doesn't feel healthy for anyone to experience even though we have people into it.
Of course addiction and fallen victim to irreparable like scam is such that we are ought to be aware of and be deemed to stay away from.
So I don't need to be victim before knowing it true fact. Gambling addiction is bad and destructive to ones financial obligation and can ruine your life. This notice is okay and there is nothing other left to understand not until I am a victim first day.

[Fivestar4everMVP]

You will never really understand how serious gambling addiction is unless you experience it yourself. We have all seen some topics and news about people being reported as gambling addicts. Sometimes we just laugh, sometimes we blame them for their stupidity instead of showing compassion.

I say this because I experienced it myself. It is not easy to be addicted and no one really wishes to be addicted, it just happens. We who experience this are victims of our own weakness in gambling, lack of emotional control and bad decision making.

So we have to be careful with the words we throw at someone, especially when we know they are already in a delicate situation. It becomes easier to understand them when we try to understand the situation they are really in.

What you've said makes sense but point of correction, gambling addiction or becoming addicted to gambling doesn't just happen, if such just happens as you said it majority of us today would be addicted to it, because many of us here gamble every day, either they are placing a bet or playing casino or slot game but still, they are not addicted, thats not the product of luck, it's the product of knowing the risk involved in what you do and making sure you go by the rules to avoid incurring that risk on yourself.

Gambling addiction is a result of gambling recklessly, its not something that just happens, but then, this is not a justification to treat or want to treat gambling addicts less or see them as lesser humans, they are simply part of us who made some mistakes that they are having to the price involved.
I support for sure that we show compassion, but it's only when necessary, and let me add that compassion doesn't help an addicted gambler as much as help, solution to come out from the addiction does help.

[Jody.Drummer]

Gambling addiction is a struggle and a lot of cases there are people that really want to stop this addiction but they cannot really do it because of how deep they have gotten in it. There should be no sort of judgement or anything that is going to be too harsh on them. Most people that are addicted don't even talk about their addiction because they are scared of what others might say about them. Just because people are addicted to gambling doesn't mean that they haven't tried one way or the other that stop this addiction.

Addiction is not a struggle but a bad situation, if by struggle it is someone who is trying to recover from their addiction. Someone who is addicted might tell a friend or anyone about their problem to get advice and input, or even cursing, and I don't think everyone needs advice but sometimes this cursing or judgment becomes their fulcrum to prove that they can recover from addiction so it's like fuel to make themselves more confident to change, even so but generally advice is the most common.