Back in the days, the psychiatric community considered pathological gambling as a compulsion rather than an addiction – a behavior that is mainly motivated by the need of relieving anxiety instead of craving for intense pleasure.
In the 80s actually, while updating DSM or the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the APA or the American Psychiatric Association officially classified that pathological gambling as being an impulse-control disorder. This is more of an unclear label for certain groups of people with somewhat related condition. Because of such studies, there have been more effective treatment that were put in place among gambling addicts to be sober and get their life back on track. After all, how could you resist something like free £20 no deposit casino that is totally enticing and appealing? Casinos do know how to market themselves.
High Ratio of Gamblers
Whether you believe it or not, 4 out of 5 Americans admitted that they have at least engaged in gambling activity in their lives. With the only exception of the state of Utah and Hawaii; every state in the country is offering some sort of legalized gambling.
These days though, you don’t even have to leave your home to gamble. What you need instead is a fast and stable internet connection and a decent smartphone or computer.
There have been several surveys that discovered that there are about 2 million people in the US who are addicted to gambling.
APA has based their conclusions on multiple studies related to subjects of:
- Genetics
- Neuroscience and;
- Psychology
The study demonstrated that drug addiction and gambling are a lot more similar than what you have thought. Research for the past 20 years has significantly increased the work model of neuroscientists with how the brain changes by the time an addiction starts to develop.
Reward System
In the center of the cranium, there’s a series of circuits that are known as reward system links different scattered brain regions that do involve motivation, pleasure, movement and memory. Whenever we are engaging in such activity that is keeping us alive or helping us to pass on our genes, neurons in our reward system are triggered and released hormones called dopamine. This gives us small waves of encouragement and satisfaction to keep enjoying something we like.
Basically, it is the same thing why people keep on gambling. The thought of playing casino games and chances of winning is pushing them forward to keep playing and thus, escalate to addiction if not handled well.
