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Many people question whether gambling can be an actual addiction. It does ‘fire-up’ the same parts of the brain as other addictions but is it addictive?
One way to tell is to compare gambling with other addictions; do gambling addicts have other substance abuse disorders and at a significantly greater frequency than the population as a whole? And the answer is ‘yes’, up to 75% of addicted gamblers have a co-occurring substance abuse problem…
Did you know….
- that of the 125 million American adults who gamble, 5.3 million are problem gamblers, 2.2 million are pathological gamblers and 15 million are at risk,
- of the 2.2 million pathological gamblers, half are adolescents,
- women problem gamblers are rising; they used to be outnumbered by men gamblers by 3 to 1 but seem to have stabilized at an equal number with men. This appears due to the proliferation of slot machines,
- minorities are at higher risk for gambling addiction,
- 65% of pathological gamblers have a co-occurring substance abuse disorder,
- often, a substance abuse addiction is replaced with a gambling addiction,
- seniors have shown the greatest growth in the number of gamblers,
- college students have a higher rate of gambling problem than the general population.
Welcome Back! Thanks for visiting!
Admitted to God, to ourselves, and another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
Whoever actually has the courage to complete this step has guts…
Too often in the treatment of addiction the role of the family is never examined. Instead, addiction is seen as an individual problem. And when I speak of ‘family’ I refer to friends, the neighborhood and peer group friends as well as family members.
It is estimated that 1/4 of the entire population of America is part of a family affected by addiction and that the overwhelming majority of addicts either live with a family or partner.
The role of the family in helping to maintain an addictive lifestyle is very important so therapy of any kind for addiction should include family members at some point.
What are the major parts or goals of family therapy for addiction?
First, find a way to live without drugs and maintain that lifestyle. Treatment for the addict is important and so is treatment of all family members involved for past and present mental problems.
Second, in maintaining a drug free lifestyle communication among family members is vital. Lines of communication should be explored in therapy and opened up.
Next, and most important, is the acceptance by the addict as well as all family members that drug abuse and addiction is not a weakness and stopping it is not a moral choice; it is a disease and, as such, can be treated.
Finally once a drug free lifestyle is explored and adopted, communication within the family is open then what now? Addiction and its surrounding behavior took up a lot of time in the family so adjustment is necessary. Mutually pleasing activities must be found so the family actively participates in life.
“Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.”
This might look like a simple task but it is not… It is extremely difficult to come to terms with what you have done in the past which leads to what kind of person you actually are.
And most importantly it is a life transition where you forgive yourself and start on the road to true recovery feeling better about yourself than you ever have before.
In America, over 65% of heavy drinkers also use marijuana. More and more field sobriety tests for marijuana and other drugs are now conducted at scenes of accidents so positive drug tests are now the rule rather than the exception in drivers arrested for driving under the influence.
But there are some basic problems involved with marijuana testing…
First of all, marijuana stays in the body for days after use and is not metabolized out at a specific rate like alcohol.
Therefore if a field drug test detects marijuana…was the marijuana ingested recently or days ago? We do know that there are lower levels in impairment after smoking marijuana than after drinking alcohol.
Marijuana tends to make a driver overcaustious and somewhat paranoid while alcohol lowers inhibitions and boosts self-confidence.
There is also very little solid data pointing to the amount of marijuana in the blood and the resulting level of impairment. And field tests usually show multiple drugs in the system so did marijuana cause a traffic accident for someone who smoked marijuana and/or drank alcohol? Who knows?
The few studies that exist concerning driving and marijuana seem to have conflicting results. One test showed a significant impairment 7 hours after smoking marijuana and another found little impairment 7 hours after smoking.
But even though the effects of marijuana on driving is still unclear it has been confirmed that after smoking marijuana and then driving, if a driving situation arises requiring fast decision making and reflexes then the chance of error is significantly increased.
What is Halothane you may ask? I certainly had to ask because it was unfamiliar.
It is a surgical anesthetic gas sold under the name of ‘Fluothane’. Developed in 1951 it was used in the Western world for a short period until it was found to have some severe side affects in some people such as liver damage, an induced hepatitis, hyperthermia and cardiac complications.
Since then it has been replaced with sevofluane but is still used in veternary medicine and Third World countries because of its cheap cost.
As an anesthetic it can induce coma very rapidly but due to its limited availability it is pretty much only abused by hospital personnel.
Addiction science has come a long way. Changing addictive behavior to stop using the addictive substance is no longer deemed a moral choice; addiction actually changes the physical structure of the brain.
I’ve already covered addiction along with compulsion and the inability to stop an addiction easily. The fine line between abuse and addiction is very hard to see but definitely has to do with compulsion.
And addiction can come in many forms; its not just with drugs, alcohol and nicotine. So what are the most common addictions, you may ask?
The ten most common addictions (in no particular order) are:
- Alcohol – is drinking causing major problems in your life, either physical or emotional? If so, it’s time to become concerned,
- Drugs – just like alcohol – are drugs putting your life into the gutter? Are you doing things you would not normally do to obtain drugs? Maybe you are high all the time…
- Food – maybe you eat when you are depressed – do you have your own ‘comfort foods’? How about binge eating? On the other extreme do you believe food to be ‘bad’? Are you seriously underweight?
- Sex – aside from normal urges typical to gender, do you perform sexually related activities that might pose a danger? Compulsive sex with strangers, voyeurism? Maybe you are a woman who has sex merely to receive affection?
- Shopping – is shopping a way to feel better? Are you seriously in debt due to your shopping habits?
- Work – we are all rewarded for our professions but to some it becomes an obsession. Do you spend most of your free time at work or thinking about work when it is not required?
- Internet - do you surf all the time…are you uneasy when not ‘plugged in’?
- Video – do you play online games as a specific character and spend inordinate amounts of time playing? There are many massive interactive role playing games out there that can literally ’swallow you whole’ because they are so addictive…
- Smoking – very little needs to be said about this one… once addicted to nicotine you know what it is like to be a drug addict,
- Gambling - always looking for that big win but never quite winning… Do you spend huge amounts of money on gambling? Lottery tickets are merely another form of gambling so do you buy lottery tickets every week…feel uneasy when you do not buy them?
There are now support groups for every single one of these possible addictions, and these groups are all based on the successful 12 step recovery first introduced by AA.
If you feel you may have a problem attend one of these local groups. Attend one even if you do not have a problem, they are still worthwhile to go to…
I came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
Antipsychotic drugs are used to treat the psychotic symptoms of schizophrenia. In the early 1950s a whole new class of drugs was developed to treat schizophrenia called the phenothiazines. Among these drugs are thorazine, compazine, mellaril and prolixin.
This class of drugs was labeled the ‘major tranquilizers’ to separate them from the benzodiazapines and barbiturates called the ‘minor tranqualizers’.
Now we have a newer class of antipsychotics called the nonphenothiazines like haldol, zyprexa, clozapine, moban, risperdal and loxitane which act like the phenothiazines.
An even newer generation of drugs to control schizophrenic symptoms are being marketed. These are the ‘dopamine system stabilizers’. Researchers have found that a major cause of psychotic behavior in schizophrenics is an excess of dopamine so these drugs block the dopamine receptors in the brain. Among these are abilify and invega which block dopamine receptors but exactly how is unknown.
So the newer generation of drugs merely manage the symptoms of schizophrenia instead of attacking the disease itself.
One of the major side effects of dopamine blocking drugs is involuntary movements and the inability to sit still.
Embalming Fluid, composed mainly of formaldehyde, methanol, ethanol and traces of other solvents, is also an abused drug. Not only is it used in the manufacture of methamphetamine, it is also used for its depressant and psychedelic effects.
It can be inhaled by itself, mixed with marijuana either by itself or with PCP and smoked. Or marijuana as well as tobacco cigarettes can be dipped in embalming fluid and smoked (called ‘clickems’ or ‘clickers’).
Effects are similar to PCP which include anger, paranoia, pain tolerance, memory problems and auditory or visual hallucinations. And the effects can last from 6 hours to 3 days…
Funeral homes now have to impose additional security measures because many are being broken into.
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