“…I lost all that I had on me, and with great speed. To begin with, I staked two hundred gulden on " even," and won. Then I staked the same amount again, and won: and so on some two or three times. At one moment I must have had in my hands--gathered there within a space of five minutes--about 4000 gulden. That, of course, was the proper moment for me to have departed, but there arose in me a strange sensation as of a challenge to Fate--as of a wish to deal her a blow on the cheek, and to put out my tongue at her. Accordingly I set down the largest stake allowed by the rules--namely, 4000 gulden--and lost. Fired by this mishap, I pulled out all the money left to me, staked it all on the same venture, and--again lost! Then I rose from the table, feeling as though I were stupefied…” from Chapter 4 of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Gambler.
Dostoevsky describes a scene instantly familiar to all pathological gamblers. An infamous pathological gambler himself, he knew all too well the feelings that gambling invokes; the seduction of easy wealth, the optimism of defying the odds and the blunt emptiness of losing everything. Gambling addictions are no different to any other addictions, and actually is be ranked among the worst of all addictions, more difficult to overcome than drug abuse and more destructive mentally, physically, financially and socially, having the highest rate of suicide among pathological addictions.
Like all addictions, gambling manifests itself progressively, starting out as a leisurely activity, then becoming a secret obsession that steadily takes over. Initially the winnings might have been the main attraction towards gambling, but arguably it is actually the experience that the pathological gambler becomes addicted to, the ‘high’ experienced when first approaching the game with money in the pocket that could potentially multiply itself. Rapid losses during gambling do not deter a gambler, he will continue staking his money until all is lost, and will only walk away from the game when he is depleted of funds. Money may exist at the centre of the entire experience as the motivator for going back to the casino, the justification for continuing, however the pathological gambler is not addicted to the money itself per se, at some point during the experience the money becomes ‘just a thing’ and no longer holds its value in real terms, for example, during gambling, a hundred dollar casino chip or 200 credits in a poker machine is no longer thought of as representative of $100 cash in real life that could have paid the bills or paid for something of real value.
There now exist so many forms of gambling, in lotteries, casinos, betting shops on every corner, online casinos and online betting, if gambling is constantly pitched at you from every direction, how can it be overcome? There is no drug to gradually break oneself away from it and a gambling addict has often lost their family, their business and their position in society, therefore there is not much community support for problem gamblers. Generally, pathological gambling requires will power to stop and go cold turkey, but already they are disadvantaged in doing this as their brains lack self-control and by now have already become chemically dependent on the induced highs associated with gambling. Depression results in addicts coming off their substances which have reset the normal natural levels of happiness to abnormal levels during the course of their addictions.
Pathological gamblers should recognize that they lack self-control, and even though they might argue that their gambling system works, they know in their own hearts that they can’t help but stray from the system addiction letting the addiction take over. Therein lies the difference between a pathological gambler and an obsessive gambler. An obsessive gambler knows how to ‘safely’ bankroll his gambling like a business, patiently study and hone his skill, lose and walk away without having to stake everything else in his pockets to win it back there and then instantly. Although his life may be consumed by gambling, he does not exhibit the pathological tendencies of self-destruction present in real gambling addictions. Be aware of the differences, whether the gambler can exhibit self control and what he is actually motivated to play for.
|
