Many people consider national lottery draws and sports betting socially accepted behaviours. However, these fall under the types of activities that contribute to the development of gambling addiction. The Gambling Commission reported that by March 2022, 43% of the British population had gambled at least once that year. Gambling addiction can be very harmful to individuals and contributes to their employment, financial and psychological difficulties.
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Jetzt kostenlos anmeldenMany people consider national lottery draws and sports betting socially accepted behaviours. However, these fall under the types of activities that contribute to the development of gambling addiction. The Gambling Commission reported that by March 2022, 43% of the British population had gambled at least once that year. Gambling addiction can be very harmful to individuals and contributes to their employment, financial and psychological difficulties.
Fig. 1: Gambling addiction can cause significant financial difficulty for people.
Gambling addiction can affect a person's life in many ways, from causing financial difficulties to providing emotional highs and lows.
Gambling addiction - also called pathological or compulsive gambling - is a psychological disorder characterised by being chronic and maladaptive.
Gambling addiction is a disorder in which the individual suffering from it plays games of chance to the point in which their financial, personal and professional situations present difficulties.
Several dangers usually accompany gambling addiction. These characteristics that gamblers present are especially relevant for gamblers' families and friends so they can detect the problem and act upon it.
Gamblers' social environment can see changes in gamblers emotional availability. Gamblers can be emotionally distant or unavailable to the people around them.
Pathological gambling was first introduced as a mental disorder in the third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM) in 1980. In the latest version of the DSM, an individual would receive a positive diagnosis for gambling in the presence of four or more of the following symptoms:
These symptoms must be present for at least 12 months for a diagnosis to be positive. Gambling behaviour is also not better explained by a manic episode.
A pathological gambling diagnosis is present in three formats; mild, moderate or severe. A semi-structured interview also accompanies the gambling diagnosis. By revising the diagnostic criteria and the semi-structured interview, experts can understand the gamblers' circumstances. This becomes especially relevant when the expert reviews and chooses among the different treatment options.
Fig 2: Example of activities and fortune games that can lead to gambling addiction.
Several explanations explore gambling addiction, including the behaviourist explanation, which explores social learning theory and classical and operant conditioning, and the cognitive explanation of gambling.
From a behaviourist approach, gambling problems are explained based on the social learning theory, classical conditioning and operant conditioning (reinforcement).
Social learning theory suggests that gambling problems occur because an individual learns gambling behaviours from their environment. By observing family and friends (role models) engaging in gambling and experiencing positive behaviours linked to gambling, individuals decide to engage in such behaviours themselves.
Social learning theory understands human behaviour as a consequence of the social nature of humans. It is part of the human condition to have role models - in this case, family and friends, and even celebrities - and to imitate their behaviours.
Evaluation of the social learning theory explaining gambling addiction:
Classical conditioning explains gambling behaviour through conditioning a person experiences when they gamble. The unconditioned stimulus of gambling and winning and the unconditioned response of increased excitement become a conditioned stimulus whenever the person is around gambling-associated activities.
Operant conditioning explains learned behaviour as the association between such behaviours and certain consequences, named reinforcements. According to operant conditioning, gambling behaviour is maintained by a positive or a negative reinforcer.
In operant conditioning, a reinforcer is an event or circumstance that either, in its presence or absence, makes a given behaviour more likely to be repeated, due to its association with a given response.
A positive reinforcer would be winning money by gambling, and a negative reinforcer would be being able to escape the stress in life by engaging in gambling and feeling the highs of gambling.
Regarding gambling, operant conditioning becomes slightly more complex, and the reinforcers are either partial or variable.
Evaluation of the operant conditioning theory explaining gambling addiction:
There are cognitive explanations for gambling addiction. Cognitive explanations explore cognitive biases in gambling.
The cognitive theory explains gambling in irrational and maladaptive thought processes.
Cognitive biases are thinking patterns that produce distorted perceptions of reality.
According to this view, gamblers present cognitive biases, contributing to gambling addiction development.
These are the most common cognitive biases in gamblers:
Michealczuk et al. (2011) compared the cognitive distortions of two groups of individuals - gamblers and non-gamblers - as they all played a chance game.
Their results indicated that gamblers had a stronger sense of control over the game than non-gamblers. Furthermore, the cognitive bias in gamblers was more extensive than that of non-gamblers.
Evaluation of the cognitive explanation of gambling addiction:
According to the Illinois Insitute for Addiction Recovery, gambling problems develop in four stages.
Phase | Description |
Winning phase | The individual engaging in gambling for the first time usually gets a big win which brings joy and excitement. At this stage, individuals may believe that since they did it once, they can do it again and, thus, continue gambling. |
Losing phase | A losing streak occurs, typically after the initial winning streak which sparked addiction. The more individuals immerse themselves in gambling, the more detached they become from their families, friends, jobs, and responsibilities. At this point, the gambler is usually losing money but has the hope that this will change. |
Desperation phase | At this point, the individual is lost in gambling behaviour and cannot stop, doubling down in an attempt to win once more. The individual may be engaging in other fraudulent activities in an attempt to make money to fuel their addiction, in extreme cases. Mental health begins to decline. |
Hopeless phase | This is the most critical phase in gambling. At this point, individuals are no longer optimistic about their futures. They think they will never be able to stop gambling and debts are beginning to become a significant problem. They may rely on other substances such as alcohol and can even present suicidal thoughts. |
The treatment options for gambling include:
According to psychologists, there are a variety of causes that may explain gambling addiction. From a psychological perspective, cognitive biases affect a gambler's decisions, possibly leading to addiction. Other explanations include social learning theory (vicarious reinforcement), classical conditioning (conditioned stimulus), and operant conditioning (reinforcement).
Learning theory explains gambling through reinforcement. It states that gambling is reinforced through the positive outcomes of winning and the negative reinforcement of avoiding stress. Partial and variable reinforcement also explain gambling by stating that although the gambler won’t win every time, they learn that they will eventually win, leading them to keep gambling.
Yes, according to the DSM-5, gambling disorder (gambling addiction or compulsive gambling) is a mental illness.
There is no one personality type for gamblers. Some personality traits common to gamblers include controllingness, narcissism, and persistence.
You should consult with a professional. Different treatments may work better for some than others but learning theory advises aversion therapy. In contrast, cognitive theory uses cognitive behavioural therapy to treat addiction.
Is there any treatment for gambling addiction?
Yes, treatment is usually provided based on the six-stage behavioural change model, developed by Prochaska and DiClemente (1983).
Why is the hopeless phase the most critical phase?
Because the individual is no longer optimistic about the future and present suicidal thoughts.
During the desperation phase, the individual is ___ in gambling behaviour and cannot stop.
Lost.
During the losing phase gamblers are ___ from their families and friends.
Detached.
The winning phase is characterised by feelings of ___ and ___.
Joy, excitement.
What did Michealczuk et al. (2011) find in their study?
They found that gamblers had a stronger sense of control over the game as well as more cognitive bias, as compared to non-gamblers.
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