Gambling and Pathological Problem Essay Example for Free

Gambling and Pathological Problem Essay Prior to the case studies and research reports by known psychologist of our time, gambling is see as an act of passing away the time in a friendly atmosphere of playing for money. When gambling is becoming a habit for someone, gambling started to connote as an act that is bad, especially when the person involved in gambling bets his money allocated for the need of his family for food and rent. This connotation would only come in such cases that are already of the extreme. But basically gambling is seen then, as it is right now, as a way of diversion from the strain of necessity of daily living. This is one the reasons why governments allowed the buildings of casinos and the existence of other forms of gambling wherein people can bet and probably win huge sum of money. On the other hand, when is the time when one could say one is pathological gambler? This question has been an issue that has been asked and a subject of inquiry of many psychologists and scientists. Or is there really such a thing as a pathological gambler? When can we assume that a person is already suffering from a pathological disease called gambling? Gambling as a Pathology: History It is only during the advent of twentieth century when there rose an interest from the part of psychoanalysts on the act of gambling (Rosenthal, 2003). Starting in 1914, these scientists contributed enormous case studies, research reports, and speculative essays by which patients marked as gamblers were identified as gabling addicts. The most prominent of these psychoanalysts was Freud who displayed a particular interest in to why people would consciously seek for themselves a way to repeatedly engage in a self-destructive gambling behavior. He believed that these gamblers are not really for the money per se when they participate in a gambling game but they gamble for the sake of gambling itself, which psychologists term now as â€Å"the action. † It was Freud who labeled gambling as an addiction, forming a triad along with alcohol and illegal drugs (Freud, 2002). On a cursory look at the state by which gamblers go on with their habit, we can thus say that gamblers, one way or another, is a participant in the process by which they abuse themselves by going to casino everyday to lose huge money, which include probably money allocated for their rent and food. As the years went on, concern about gambling tended to give more focus on the gambler’s â€Å"personal attributes† rather on the economic and social consequences of the act. Those who are involved with gambling began to be considered as problem gamblers. If the gambler’s problem with his habit becomes chronic, the â€Å"problem gambler† was seen already as a â€Å"compulsive gambler†. This term â€Å"compulsive gambler† is the early term used to describe pathological gambler according to National Research Council (U. S. ). Committee on the Social and Economic Impact of Pathological Gambling (1999). Gambling Pathology: Effects The best definition concerning the problem of gambling that has reached wide acceptance in the world, particularly Australia, as mentioned by Hsu (2005): â€Å"the situation when a person’s gambling activity gives rise to harm to the individual player, and/or to his or her family, and may extend into community. † In Australia for example as reported by Productivity Commission (1999) there is an estimated 1% of the Australian population who has a severe problem with gambling. An additional 1. 1% have moderate problem; thus creating a 2. 1% of problem gamblers in the whole Australia. Basing from the definition cited above, the pathology of gambling can be widespread and creates a great impact on the individual. The personal consequences of having a problem with gambling according to Leseiur (1996 cited in Hsu, 2005) can be depression, insomnia, anxiety attacks, cardiac problem, intestinal disorders, high blood pressure, migraine and suicidal tendencies. He mentioned that the family of the problem gambler can also bear the cost of, in particular the financial burden. When the problem gambler gets into debt because of his/her unmitigated habit or addiction to gambling, this would mean less family expenditures, overdue bills, utilities being cut off, personal or family belongings being sold or repossessed, or on an extreme case the family is left homeless (Hsu, 2005). Gambling Pathology: Psychology Over the past several years there has been a collective effort to understand the psychology of problem gamblers. The focus of these case studies and researches focus on the role of negative effect, personality factors, concurrent disorders, sex differences and role of cognitions. The relationship of pathological gambling with the depressive mood state of the person is probably one of the most seen predispositions as to becoming a problem gambler. The studies in this area have produced somewhat conflicting results. The reason for his is because some of the case studies failed to find any connection with depression to gambling. Yet, at the same time, there are research reports that stated otherwise. These reports found that there is a co-occurrence of depression to the problem of gambling. At the same time, there are studies that discovered that there is a link between gambling and anxiety or obsessive-compulsiveness. This involves the psychological process of the person wherein he gives a lot of time developing gambling strategies and gaming behavior. Blaszczynski (2005 cited in Toneatto and Millar, 2004) discovered that problem gamblers get a high score significantly on measures concerning obsessive-compulsiveness. People with obsessive-compulsive behavior have excessive preoccupation with gambling-related thoughts. In the case of Frost et al. (2001 cited in Toneatto and Millar, 2004) they experimented with obsessive-compulsive factors in lottery and resulted to the confirmation of Blaszczynski (2005 cited in Toneatto and Millar, 2004) findings: that pathological gamblers display more symptoms of being obsessive-compulsiveness. Meanwhile, there is concluding evidence that there is a relationship between gambling behavior and one’s desire for excitement arousal. This psychological aspect of problem gamblers has received an equivocal empirical support according to Toneatto and Millar (2004). Nevertheless, there are still results that come up with contrary findings regarding the aspect of desire for an aroused state. The explanation to these conflicting results is that sensation seeking level of every gambler differs across gambling activities. One more thing is that since gambling is not a homogeneous activity, the desire for an arousal of sensation may be more prominent or greater in some types of gambling activities than others. Moreover, sensation seeking on the part of the gamblers may be a state rather than a trait. On the other hand, the hypothesis of there is an association between impulsivity and disordered gambling follows with natural ease from being included in the list of pathological gambling among the list of impulse disorder as stated by Toneatto and Millar (2004). There are research reports that demonstrated that pathological gamblers get higher score on indices of impulsivity as compared with research control subjects. Petry (2001 cited in Toneatto and Millar, 2004) stated that impulsivity could be conceptualized and measured as a multi-faceted construct that take into account the such behaviors as orientation to the present, decreased in the ability to delay gratification, behavioral disinhibition, too much risk and sensation seeking, proneness to boredom, and lastly poor planning abilities by the problem gambler. There are also results from other significant research reports that identify relationships between gambling pathology and mental health disorders, particularly those of substance use disorders, mood disorders, personality disorders and ADHD. Petry (2001 cited in Toneatto and Millar, 2004) discovered that subjects who have a history or background of substance abuse and had gambling problem reported increased levels of somatization, obsessive-compulsiveness, paranoia and interpersonal sensitivity. In the meantime, according to a more recent case study performed by Ladd and Perry (2003 cited in Toneatto and Millar, 2004) stated that problem gamblers with history of undergoing treatment for substance abuse has reported to be suffering from depression, hallucinations, suicidal ideation and attempts. They also have difficulty controlling violent behavior as compared with pathological gamblers who had no previous history of being treated for substance abuse. Conclusion The study on the issue of a problem gambler just started during the advent of the 20th Century and this subject has been the favorite subject of psychoanalyst. Freud (2003) labeled it as a form of addiction and part of the triad which includes alcohol and illicit drugs. This addiction would later be termed as compulsive gambling which will later on evolved into a more specific kind of behavior called pathological gambling. The are case studies that tried to explain the psychology of a pathological gambler and experts discovered that these individuals exhibit certain degree of obsessive-compulsiveness and other personality behavior. Another point that must be understood is that these person are usually seeking sensation arousal when they commit themselves to gamble. References: Freud, S. (2002). The Psychopathology of Everyday Life. Penguin Group, New York Hsu, C. (2005). Casino Industry in Asia Pacific: Development, Operation, and Impact. Haworth Press, Binghampton National Research Council (U. S. ). Committee on the Social and Economic Impact of Pathological Gambling (1999). Pathological Gambling: A Critical Review. National Academy Press, Washington, D. C. Productivity Commission (1999). Australia’s Gambling Industries. Vol. 1-3 Rosenthal, R. (2003). Dual Dianosis. Brunner-Routledge, New York Toneatto, T. and Millar, G. (2004). Assessing and Treating Problem Gambling: Empirical Status and Promising Trends. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. Vol 49 (8), 417-525