One of the biggest problems with gambling is stopping. To be able to just one day say ‘no more’, and to carry through with that promise. After the years I’ve said this many times, but to date I’ve never been able to get myself gambling free. It’s important to understand why we gamble in the first place. Without understanding the underlying motivation to gamble, it’s hard to identify the right path to becoming gamble free. In basic terms there are two types of gambler; the action gambler and the escape gambler. The escape gambler may gamble for relief or escape from other problems. To use gambling as a distraction from problems at home or at work. They are likely to be slightly older than action gamblers, and can be reluctant to give up gambling in the fear that they will not be able to confront the pain of outside pressures. The action gambler can be addicted to the thrill, think they can beat the odds or identify themselves as a skilled competitor with high paying wins. I’ve you’ve won big in the past, and commonly cite this win or think you can achieve that win again, you’re likely to be an action gambler. This is me. In the survey, someone asked me to look into personality traits for gamblers. I do plan to do look into this in a future blog / area of research, but hopefully the above classification gives an introduction. In the following chart, if you’re an escape gambler you’re likely to take the route down the right hand side, and if you’re an action gambler you’re likely to take the route down the left. Being able to recognise which type of gambler you are is important in helping to stop gambling and prevent relapses. Research shows that ‘trigger cues’ increase the risk of relapse (Marlatt and George, 1984). If an addict comes into contact with trigger cue of substance after a period of abstinence, they have a classical conditioning of association with that trigger, making them more likely to relapse. In my next blog I’d like to look more closely at trigger cues, relapses, and what we can do to avoid them or at least decrease the likelihood of relapses occurring. In the meantime, please do let me know what type of gambler you think you are in the following poll:
Steve
7/6/2015 05:20:13 pm
Thanks so mu h for this blog it's so good to see I'm not the only one going through the same thing as you and it's good to see how you are coping with it. I keep thinking I can win but I keep losing all my money and I never learn. I'm interested in yur next blog on relapsing and really want to know what to do to stop. I'm an action gambler as per this blog but I keep thinking I can win over and over again but all I do is lose all of money. I will email you some questions I have too as I want yor advice on stopping thanks so much will keep following this blog
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