[Masu485]

Just write a few lines with your thoughts on it, how it makes you feel, what your drive is, why you do it etc... also, if you do it because you really think you can win longterm, or because you just like the rush.

thanks!

[Masu485]

WTF do you people want to be in my paper or not??

[pokernut9999]

Everyone here is a winner

That is what I always hear

97% are fooling themselves

[SamsNCharge99]

gambling makes watching the games fun

sometimes i feel like I would rather not watch the game unless I have action on it

gambling after a few years becomes more of a habit that if you don't do, you feel lost w/o

when night time rolls around, I make my schedule around sports making sure I can check my phone, computer, or be watching the game at all times

Do I think I can win long term.....I don't think of it like that, I think short term and for the rush of gambling, it's a day to day thing,

hope that helps

[Masu485]

gambling makes watching the games fun

sometimes i feel like I would rather not watch the game unless I have action on it

gambling after a few years becomes more of a habit that if you don't do, you feel lost w/o

when night time rolls around, I make my schedule around sports making sure I can check my phone, computer, or be watching the game at all times

Do I think I can win long term.....I don't think of it like that, I think short term and for the rush of gambling, it's a day to day thing,

hope that helps

thanks sammy. it's looking like ur the only one who's gonna be in my paper. i'll quote it as S. N'Charge.

[SamsNCharge99]

thanks sammy. it's looking like ur the only one who's gonna be in my paper. i'll quote it as S. N'Charge.

np man, gl on your paper

[Masu485]

wtf! i wanted at least 3 of these. just write your feelings about gambling addiction if you feel you have it.

[Grandmaster B]

Im addicted to anything were money can be made using your mind...that being said gambling is mostly luck IMO but a fool and his money will soon part

Ive cashed tickets before or I wouldnt be doing it

[36mafia]

Just write a few lines with your thoughts on it, how it makes you feel, what your drive is, why you do it etc... also, if you do it because you really think you can win longterm, or because you just like the rush.

thanks!

thoughts: its as ethical as stock trading
drive: the high you get from picking dogs and parlays to cash is almost as good as any other drug out there
i can win longterm but at the same time i am doing it for the rush. its like that saying: once you go black, you can never go back. i can never go back to watching a game without putting anything down as it doesnt give me the same adrenaline rush if i had money on it

note: im just a ten dollar better so its just a hobby of mine
now how bout some points? im 31 pts away from getting $50 sportsbook cash

[OMGRandyJackson]

What type of paper are you writing that will accept internet forum posters as sources lol?

[Masu485]

What type of paper are you writing that will accept internet forum posters as sources lol?

haha, it's just supposed to be a short paper, no sources needed at all, but i wanted to do something extra to hopefully impress the prof. i need to get 90 in this class so i can switch programs.

abnormal psych paper, chose to do it on gambling addiction.

[TPowell]

It's not gambling when your a sharp like TPowell!!! Quote that for me pal

[Extra Innings]

I gamble to detract me from deep seeded psychological problems I have. Gambling makes me feel normal.

[Extra Innings]

This will get you going

Abstract

As compulsive gambling and problem gamblers attract continued and increasing attention — due to state reliance on gambling for revenues and government and private marketing of the gambling experience — conceptions of compulsive, or addictive, gambling have evolved. The disease model of alcoholism and drug addiction, which predominates in the U.S. and North America, has generally been widely adopted for purposes of understanding and addressing gambling problems. However, this model fails to explain the most fundamental aspects of compulsive drinking and drug taking, so it can hardly do better with gambling. For example, people regularly outgrow addictions — often without ever labelling themselves as addicts. Indeed, gambling provides a vivid and comprehensible example of an experiential model of addiction. Elements of an addiction model that gambling helps to elucidate are the cycle of excitement and escape followed by loss and depression, reliance on magical thinking, failure to value or practice functional problem solving and manipulative orientation towards others.

News Item

On May 9, 2000 the seven-state "Big Game" lottery provided a prize of $366 million. The odds of winning were 76 million to 1. In the days before, the lottery sales outlets were overrun with people buying hundreds of dollars worth of tickets. The weekend before the lottery was held, 35 million tickets were sold. Annually, Americans spend $36 billion on lotteries.

Introduction — The Purpose and Development of Addiction Theory

In 1975, I proposed a general theory of addiction in Love and Addiction (Peele & Brodsky, 1975/1991): that any powerful experience in which people can lose themselves can become the object of an addiction. The result of this immersion is deterioration of the person's engagement with the rest of his or her life, which increases the person's dependence on the addictive object or involvement. Certain people are far more prone to form such addictive involvements — those with tenuous connections to other activities and relationships, and whose values do not rule out antisocial activities.

Initially, both scientists and people who misused alcohol and drugs thought that the expansion of the addiction concept to incorporate such non-substance based activities cheapened and minimized the idea of addiction. At the same time, the popularity of the idea of non-drug addictions grew through the 1980s and beyond. This trend was fueled by the growing claims by many people who gambled destructively: they were equally unable to control their habit and suffered just as much pain and loss in their lives as those destructively devoted to drugs and alcohol (and quite a few of these individuals shared gambling and substance addictions).

Since 1980, successive editions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association have recognized compulsive (called "pathological") gambling, although the definitions have continued to evolve. Nonetheless, for many, the idea that gambling comprises an addiction is hard to accept; along with notions that gamblers undergo withdrawal like heroin users and that people who gamble excessively at one point in their lives are necessarily afflicted with a lifetime malady. In fact, gambling sheds light on the fundamental dynamics of all addictions: (1) addiction is not limited to drug and alcohol use, (2) spontaneous remission of addiction is commonplace, (3) even active "non-recovered" addicts show considerable variability in their behavior, (4) fundamental addictive experiences and motivations for addiction are readily apparent in compulsive gambling, and (5) gambling even helps to clarify the motivations of drug and alcohol abusers.

In an effort to make sense of addiction, gambling researchers and theorists often fall prey to the reductionist fallacy that typifies theorizing about drugs and alcohol. Blaszczynski and McConaghy (1989), for example, referred to data showing that there is not a specific kind of pathological gambler, but rather that gambling problems occur along a continuum. This is an indication that a disease model of gambling addiction is inadequate. They then cited some preliminary findings of physiological differences that might characterize pathological gamblers as potentially strong support for the disease model. Blaszczynski (2000), in this journal, posited a typology of pathological gambling including one type that is genetically caused and incurable.

The logic that dictates that an activity must be shown to be biological or genetic in its nature to be genuinely addictive is exactly backwards — for drugs, alcohol, and gambling. If a model does not begin to explain the behavior in question, then any number of associations with biological mechanisms and measurements will fail to provide an explanation (and, by extension, a solution) to the problem. Science is built on accurate and predictive models, not laboratory exercises to demonstrate, for example, how drugs impact neurochemical systems. No work of this kind will ever explain the most basic elements of addiction; particularly that people addicted at a certain time and place cease to be addicted at a different time and place (Klingemann et al., in press/2001; Peele, 1985/1998; 1990).

[Extra Innings]

Gambling Is Addictive; It Is not a disease

Defining addiction
Saying gambling is addictive but not a medical disease begs for definitions of "addiction" and "disease." The essential element of addiction to gambling is that people become completely absorbed in an activity and then pursue it in a compulsive manner, leading to extremely negative life outcomes. These individuals often describe a sense of loss of control in which they believe they are incapable of avoiding or stopping gambling.

The disease model looks to an inescapable biological source for addictions; some neurochemical adaptation that accounts for compulsive behaviors. In addition, a disease model posits that these neurochemical adjustments lead to measurable tolerance and withdrawal. Because the biological systems underlying the addiction are thought to be irreversible, the disease model includes the idea of a progressive worsening of the habit which requires treatment in order to arrest the addiction. According to the 12-step model of addiction and therapy presented by Alcoholics Anonymous, recovery from addiction requires lifetime abstinence, acknowledgment of powerlessness over the activity in question, and submission to a higher power.

Social psychological (or social cognitive) models of addiction (Orford, 1985/1995; Peele, 1985/1998) instead emphasize social causality, psychological dynamics, and the behavioral definition of addiction — which is seen as a continuum of behavior. All of the elements said to define addiction-like compulsive pursuit and preoccupation with a substance or activity, and personal disorganization and desperation after cessation — are known through behavioral, experiential, and phenomenological observation and criteria. That is, no physiological measure defines the expression of continued need for a substance. Many post-operative patients, for instance, readily abandon large narcotic regimens without notable discomfort or the desire for more of a drug. My experiential model in particular (Peele, 1985/1998) focuses on the addict's sense of him or herself, the modification of the person's experience by the substance or activity, and the way this modified experience fits in with the rest of the individual's life.

My experiential model, while rejecting a disease formulation, creates an alternative model of addictive gambling, one which recognizes the undeniable realities that people do sacrifice their lives to gambling and that they assert or believe they cannot resist the urge to do so. At Gamblers Anonymous meetings compulsive gamblers attest to sacrificing everything for their addiction and claim they have no control over their habit, providing evidence of this subjective and lived reality. On the other hand, disease-model explanations for these phenomena may be questioned, and indeed, in many cases explicitly disproved. Yet, addiction theorists and gambling researchers err by discounting gambling's genuine addictive qualities even though gambling falls short of attaining medical disease status. While discounting gambling's genuine addictive qualities, they often assume that alcohol and drug addictions fulfil criteria for an addictive disease that gambling fails to meet.

Diagnostic studies of gamblers in comparison with substance abusers
Wedgeworth (1998) found that "patients coming into treatment do not fit the addictive disease conception of gambling behavior" (p. 5). He interviewed (both directly and through examination of autobiographies created for treatment) 12 patients admitted to a private inpatient treatment center who were diagnosed as pathological gamblers. Wedgeworth found the patients did not meet criteria of "compulsive" gambling. Rather, he found that individuals were diagnosed for practical purposes, in order to fulfill insurer criteria while allowing them to repair their personal relationships. Nonetheless, in a case extensively described, the patient "had burned all his bridges" — separated from his wife, lost his job, and faced embezzlement charges (p. 10).

Patients who receive hospital treatment for addiction frequently do not meet all the criteria for addiction, but this does not distinguish gambling from alcohol and drug patients. For decades, research has found that intakes in heroin treatment centers often reveal negligible (or sometimes no) signs of opiate consumption, and that private drug and alcohol centers commonly admit anyone who shows up for intake in order to fill their treatment rolls. In 1999, the founder of the American Society of Addiction Medicine, G. Douglas Talbott, was found liable for fraud, malpractice and false imprisonment for coercing a physician into treatment who was not alcohol dependent (Peele, Bufe & Brodsky, 2000).

Orford, Morison, and Somers (1996) compared problem drinkers with problem gamblers. Orford et al. employed an attachment scale, which found that problem drinkers and gamblers were equally devoted to their habits. However, drinkers scored significantly higher on a severity-of-dependence scale including both psychological and physical components of withdrawal. For Orford, these findings call for a refocusing on subjective states rather than on withdrawal symptoms as indicators of addiction. Orford's view that addiction is best understood from an experiential and behavioral perspective is close to the position I take. However, I believe that symptoms of addiction, including withdrawal and tolerance, are simply behavioral manifestations of the same attachment that Orford et al. measured (Peele, 1985/1998).

There are reasons not to accept that withdrawal and tolerance are absent in gambling addiction, or at least any more so than they are in alcohol and drug addictions. Wray and Dickerson (1981) claimed that gamblers frequently manifest withdrawal, although their definition of withdrawal as restlessness and irritability might be questioned. However, classic studies of withdrawal have found that even heavy narcotic users manifest extremely variable symptoms, which are highly subject to suggestion and environmental manipulation (Light & Torrance, 1929). Moreover, the recent WHO/NIH Cross-Cultural Applicability Research Project found that withdrawal and other alcohol-dependence symptoms varied tremendously from cultural site to site (Schmidt, Room & collaborators, 1999, p. 454).

Thus Orford et al.'s view that dependence symptoms exist objectively and that factors such as treatment experiences and social learning do not determine their prevalence is not well founded (Peele, 2000). Indeed, Orford and Keddie (1986) showed that a subjective scale of dependence, prior treatment and AA experiences yielded better predictive models of alcoholism treatment outcomes (particularly with regard to the achievement of controlled drinking) than did the same severity-of-dependence measure Orford et al. used for the purpose of differentiating gambling from drinking problems. In the DSM-IV (American Psychiatric Association, 1994), the manifestation of tolerance and withdrawal is not essential for a diagnosis of dependence.

Thus, while I remain highly sympathetic to Orford and his colleagues' view that an essential element of addiction is the experience of attachment; I find the distinction they draw between an attachment-based definition of addiction and manifestations of withdrawal and tolerance unjustified and unnecessary.

Distribution, continuity, and self-identification of addictive problems
If there is a disease of alcoholism, or of compulsive gambling, some people should manifest a distinct addiction syndrome. Yet population studies (as opposed to clinical studies of individuals in treatment) of alcoholism, drug addiction, and compulsive gambling regularly reveal that different people display different types of problems, and that the number and severity of these problems occur across a continuum rather than forming distinct addict and non-addict profiles. Moreover, interview studies of general populations of drinkers (or of large populations of clinical alcoholics, like the Rand studies and Project MATCH) find tremendous movement and variability in severity of problems such that over time (sometimes quite brief periods), the severity of their problems shift — including substantial numbers who are no longer found to have a diagnosable problem (cf. Dawson, 1996 and Peele, 1998, in the case of alcohol; Shaffer, Hall & Vander Bilt, 1998, reviewed in Hodgins, Wynn & Makarchuk, 1999, provide similar data for gamblers).

Obviously, some people's gambling problems are worse than others. A person can have an unhealthy gambling habit that can be termed pathological without being a fully addicted (i.e. compulsive) gambler. Blaszczynski (2000) dealt with such differences by defining a three-part typology of gamblers. He based these types on an outcome study (McConaghy, Blaszczynski & Frankova, 1991) in which the three groups are characterized by non-abstinent recovery, abstinence from gambling, and continued pathological gambling. Blaszczynski posited that the first group of problem gamblers are "normal": people who successfully reduce their gambling habits and who otherwise have normal personalities. The second group — "emotionally disturbed gamblers" — have pre-existing personality disorders to which pathological gambling is a response. The third and irremediable group of gamblers — whom Blaszczynski does not label — are highly impulsive and are hypothesized to have a strong biological component and a specific allele at the D2 receptor gene site (Comings, Rosenthal, Lesieur & Rugle, 1996).

But the Blaszczynski model shows the same weaknesses as other such models in regards to epidemiological, typological, and etiological data and theory. In the first place, it seems quixotic and visionary to imagine that outcomes of gambling treatment will be related on a one-to-one basis to gambling types. Certainly, severity of pathological gambling could well be related to the likelihood of resumption of non-pathological gambling and of successful resolution of a gambling addiction. But that there are distinct demarcation points of severity that indicate distinct syndromes — and moreover that these are related to entirely distinct causal factors, genetic or otherwise — belies the kind of integrated bio-psycho-social model Blaszczynski (2000) endorses. And, indeed, McConaghy, Blaszczynski and Frankova (1991) did not find distinct personality differences to characterize treatment outcomes in their study. Rather, all such pathologic gamblers can be understood to use gambling as a response to some combination of personal, situational, and biological characteristics according to a social cognitive model.

Blaszczynski and his colleagues have focused on the personality trait of antisocial impulsiveness as being central to a key type of (one might say "genuine") gambling addiction. This syndrome includes other emotional disorders (Blaszczynski, Steel & McConaghy, 1997; Steel & Blaszczynski, 1998). In this research, the gamblers studied are unable to curb their urges, disregard the consequences of their actions on others, use gambling as a response to dysphoria and emotional problems, and are predisposed to substance abuse and criminality. These individuals are manipulative and readily sacrifice personal relationships to their urges — stealing or diverting money from family and friends and carrying on campaigns of duplicity.

For Blaszczynski (2000), this type of gambling addiction is genetically determined by a gene claimed to cause alcoholism and other addictions. For many genetic researchers, this connection is not only unlikely but has already been disproved (Holden, 1994). Yet, many of the traits identified by Blaszczynski et al. (1997) resemble those found in alcohol and drug abusers — particularly antisocial impulsivity (Peele, 1989/1995). Likewise, drug abusers and alcoholics frequently demonstrate manipulative and alienated relationships. Such similarities in the lives of those addicted to disparate involvements indicate common addictive patterns and motivations with different triggering events, social milieus, and personal predilections leading individuals to one or another type of addictive object. At the same time, a given individual often alternates or substitutes from among a variety of addictions, including problem drinking and gambling. For such individuals, it is the experiential similarities in these involvements that link the activities.

The movement of individuals from one group or outcome to another refutes Blaszczynski's distinct gambling types — especially the incurable genetically based variety. Just because a person failed to benefit from treatment at one point does not mean he or she is doomed to gamble compulsively forever. Nor is the severity of a gambling problem a guarantee of its permanence. In the 12-step approach to alcohol, gambling, and other addictions, the individual is required to admit that he or she is genuinely addicted. In my view such self-labeling is rarely helpful. For example, when surveys objectively measure compulsive behavior in remission (subjects who in a lifetime prevalence measure score as addicted, but do not currently score as such), many such individuals say they have never had a gambling or other addictive problem.

The failure to identify or at least to treat alcohol dependence, accompanied by remission, is more common than not for those who have been alcohol dependent (Dawson, 1996). Likewise, Hodgins et al. (1999) surveyed over 1800 Canadians and identified 42 respondents who revealed a lifetime gambling problem but who had had no problem in the last year. "Only 6 of the 42 in the target sample acknowledged ever having experienced a problem with gambling ..." (p. 93). This could be regarded as demonstrating the clinical symptom of denial. However, it may be a functional attitude when it permits people to leave a gambling or other addictive problem behind; perhaps more readily than if they identified themselves as addicts.

The addiction cycle and the proclivity to addiction
Some people have extremely destructive gambling experiences and some develop chronic gambling habits and problems. The individual loses more than she or he intended, feels bad about the losses, tries to recoup them by continuing to gamble — only to lose more, and good money follows bad. Even though the risk of gambling or the prospect of winning can be exhilarating, the aftermath of gambling losses are emotionally deflating and create increasing legal, job, and family problems. At the same time, future gambling relieves the anxiety, depression, boredom, and guilt that set in following gambling experiences and losses. At this point, the individual can come to feel that he or she only lives when involved in the gambling experience.

The addictive cycle is central to my experiential model of addiction (Peele, 1985/1998), and is described repeatedly in the gambling literature (cf. Lesieur, 1984). One critical element of the pathological gambling experience is money. For Orford et al. (1996, p. 47), the problem cycle begins with "negative feelings associated with gambling losses" in combination with the "person's positive experience of the gambling activity itself, shortage of money and the need to keep the extent of gambling a secret" (p. 52). The individual who is lost in this cycle relies on magical solutions — as do drug and alcohol abusers — to produce desired outcomes without following functional plans to achieve his or her goals (Marlatt, 1999; Peele, 1982).

Although Blaszczynski (2000) emphasized the diversity of pathological gambling, he identified "elements relevant to all gamblers irrespective of their subgroup." These elements include the association of gambling with "subjective excitement, dissociation, and increased heart rate" often "described as equivalent to a drug-induced 'high.' " Another common element is the "downward spiral of gambling .… When gamblers lose, they attempt to recoup losses through further chasing … Despite acknowledging the reality that gambling led them into financial problems, they irrationally believe that gambling will solve their problems." The subjective allure of the addiction and the self-feeding nature of the addictive process describe the addictive cycle and the predisposition to magical solutions central to the addiction experience.

[Extra Innings]

Conclusions: Gambling and Society

Unlike illicit drug use, which the state prohibits, and alcohol, which is manufactured privately, the state has a central role in gambling — both administering lotteries and other gambling venues, and licensing casinos, race tracks, gambling machines, etc. This direct relationship between the state and addictive gambling versus the state's indirect role in drug and most alcohol addiction has critical implications. For one thing, gambling venues continue to expand rapidly. Yet, the third element that Blaszczynski (2000) identified as central to all pathological gambling is that prevalence "is inextricably tied to the number of available gambling outlets." There is also a special temptation to think that addiction in this area is genetically determined, since this would minimize the responsibility of governments for the incidence of the problem. Modern thinking about drug addiction and alcoholism encourages this reductive view of gambling addiction. However, it is unfounded, not useful for understanding and ameliorating addiction, and leads (as it does in the case of gambling) to dysfunctional social policy.

References

American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.

Blaszczynski, A. (2000, March). Pathways to pathological gambling: Identifying typologies. [31 paragraphs]. Electronic Journal of Gambling Issues, #1 [On-line serial]. Available: .

Blaszczynski, A. & McConaghy, N. (1989). The medical model of pathological gambling: Current shortcomings. Journal of Gambling Behavior, 5, 42-52.

Blaszczynski, A., Steel, Z. & McConaghy, N. (1997). Impulsivity in pathological gambling: The antisocial impulsivist. Addiction, 92, 75 - 87.

Comings, D.E., Rosenthal, R.J., Lesieur, H.R. & Rugle, L. (1996). A study of the dopamine D2 receptor gene in pathological gambling. Pharmacogenetics, 6, 223-234.

Dawson, D.A. (1996). Correlates of past-year status among treated and untreated persons with former alcohol dependence: United States, 1992. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 20, 771-779.

Hodgins, D.C., Wynne, H. & Makarchuk, K. (1999). Pathways to recovery from gambling problems: Follow-up from a general population survey. Journal of Gambling Studies, 15(2), 93-104.

Holden, C. (1994). A cautionary genetic tale: The sobering story of D2. Science, 264, 1696 - 1697.

Klingemann, H., Sobell, L., Barker, J., Bomqvist, J., Cloud, W., Ellinstad, T., Finfgeld, D., Granfield, R., Hodgins, D., Hunt, G., Junker, C., Moggie, F., Peele, S., Smart, R., Sobell, M. & Tucker, J. (in press/2001). Promoting Self-Change from Problem Substance Use: Practical Implications for Prevention, Policy and Treatment. The Hague, NL: Kluwer.

Lesieur, H.R. (1984). The Chase: Career of the Compulsive Gambler. Cambridge, MA: Schenkman.

Light, A.B. & Torrance, E.G. (1929). Opiate addiction VI: The effects of abrupt withdrawal followed by readministration of morphine in human addicts, with special reference to the composition of the blood, the circulation and the metabolism. Archives of Internal Medicine, 44, 1-16.

Marlatt, G.A. (1999). Alcohol, the magic elixir? In S. Peele & M. Grant (Eds.), Alcohol and Pleasure: A Health Perspective. (pp. 233-248). Philadelphia, PA: Brunner/Mazel.

McConaghy, N., Blaszczynski, A. & Frankova, A. (1991). Comparison of imaginal desensitization with other behavioural treatments of pathological gambling: A two to nine year follow-up. British Journal of Psychiatry, 159, 390-393.

Orford, J. (1985/1995). Excessive Appetites: A Psychological View of Addictions. Chichester, UK: Wiley.

Orford, J. & Keddie, A. (1986). Abstinence or controlled drinking: A test of the dependence and persuasion hypothesis. British Journal of Addiction, 81, 495-504.

Orford, J., Morison, V. & Somers, M. (1996). Drinking and gambling: A comparison with implications for theories of addiction. Drug and Alcohol Review, 15, 47-56.

Peele, S. (1982). Love, sex, drugs, and other magical solutions to life. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 14, 125-131.

Peele, S. (1985/1998). The Meaning of Addiction: An Unconventional View. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Peele, S. (1989/1995). Diseasing of America: Addiction Treatment Out of Control. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Peele, S. (1990). Addiction as a cultural concept. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 602, 205-220.

Peele, S. (1998, Spring). Ten radical things NIAAA research shows about alcoholism. Addictions Newsletter (American Psychological Association, Division 50), pp. 6, 17-19.

Peele, S. (2000). What addiction is and is not: The impact of mistaken notions of addiction. Addiction Research, 8, 599-607.

Peele, S. & Brodsky, A. (1975/1991). Love and Addiction. Stanton Peel with Archie Brodsky. New York: Taplinger/Signet.

Peele, S., Bufe, C. & Brodsky, A. (2000). Resisting 12-step Coercion: How to Fight Forced Participation in AA, NA, or 12-step Treatment. Tucson, AZ: See Sharp Press.

Schmidt, L., Room, R. & collaborators (1999). Cross-cultural applicability in international classifications and research in alcohol dependence. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 60, 448-462.

Shaffer, H.J., Hall, M.N. & Vander Bilt, J. (1998). Estimating the Prevalence of Disordered Gambling Behavior in the United States and Canada: A Meta-Analysis. Boston: Harvard Medical School, Division on Addictions, Harvard Project on Gambling & Health.

Steel, Z. & Blaszczynski, A. (1998). Impulsivity, personality disorders and pathological gambling severity. Addiction, 93, 895-905.

Wedgeworth, R.L. (1998). The reification of the "pathological" gambler: An analysis of gambling treatment and the application of the medical model to problem gambling. Perspectives in Psychiatric Care, 34(2), 5-13.

Wray, I. & Dickerson, M. (1981). Cessation of high frequency gambling and "withdrawal symptoms." British Journal of Addiction, 76, 401-405.

[diamond]

Nice article. Thats what I call "extra innings" in a thread

[stevek173]

Just win.

[stevek173]

Nice article. Thats what I call "extra innings" in a thread

It's called pasted.

[Extra Innings]

Here is a short page on how people gamble in order to repair "Self"

Attachment Disorder
“Doesn’t play well with others.” -Teacher’s report
“Why can’t we all just get along?” -Rodney King
Direct from Wikipedia, “Attachment disorder is a broad term intended to describe the
disorders of mood, behavior, and social relationships arising from a failure to form
normal attachments in primary care giving figures in early childhood.” It is likely that
“helicopter parenting,” that is, micro-managing the child’s development, may also cause
attachment problems by preventing the child from learning and growing through normal
trial and error. Current research in the area of neuropsychology suggests that key brain
development activity from birth to age three is highly influenced by interaction with caregivers.
Accordingly, serious lapses or excessive scrutiny by care givers have the greatest
effect in the earliest years. The most severe form of attachment disorder appears to be
RAD, reactive attachment disorder for the inhibited type of attachment problem and
DAD (disinhibited attachment disorder) for the disinhibited form. Some research
psychologists maintain that attachment theory is in part “pseudo-scientific” because
research has not yet fully explored or proven the theory to be entirely reliable.
Ironically, one of the best “proofs” of attachment theory and justifications for attachment
disorder therapy is not found in child psychology, but rather in dealing with adults.
Attachment theory literature tends to focus on infants, toddlers, and pre-pubescent
children; an important question to ask is “What happens when they grow up?” The book
Addiction as an Attachment Disorder by Phillip J. Flores, PhD., explains in great detail
what happens to at least some of these children. Addictions. And not just one brief
encounter with a beer keg or an illicit drug. Dr. Flores suggests that people with
attachment disorders engage in “shopping addictions.” They move from one form of an
addictive substance to the next, then to a “process” addiction such as sexual addiction or
compulsive gambling, all the time seeking to fill an unfillable hole which began,
according to the theory, with a childhood attachment disorder.
Among Flores’ most convincing arguments regarding addiction as an attachment disorder
is his careful examination of the 12-step recovery process developed in the late 1930’s as
in the book, Alcoholics Anonymous. His review of the “Big Book” and the recovery
process itself as it takes place in thousands of meetings throughout the world shows that
the founders of the process had instinctively developed an approach to recovery which
ASSUMED attachment disorder was part of the problem. Flores further believes that the
focus of treatment, based on attachment theory, should be as follows:
1. Resolve narcissism, moving from self-centeredness to a healthy psychology of
self
2. Learn healthy, interactive conflict resolution skills
3. Learn to tolerate ambiguity
4. Achieve mastery over life situations
5. Learn relationship satisfaction: healthy, interdependent relationships.
Flores points out that much of this was discovered early in the 12-step recovery
movement. However, due in part to its determined non-professional status and the
complexity of issues often present in addicts, he and most other experts believe that solid
addiction treatment must not be an “A.A. on steroids” program, but rather a process that
will maximize the patients later ability to enter and succeed in 12-step recovery. Thus a
solid addiction program which recognizes attachment disorder as a basic recovery issue
will use its structure to help the patient begin the recovery process.
Therapy for attachment disorder involves first, a clear identification of the disorder and
its manifestations. One form of attachment disorder, for example, manifests in avoidant
behavior. Another form manifests in a boundary-less life style in which the person moves
from one addiction to another, one relationship to another. Yet another form, very likely
the adult version of the childhood reactive attachment disorder, might combine a history
of intense, highly enmeshed and isolated relationships while avoiding any other
relationships. At the core of all of these problems, attachment issues must be found and
identified. Then, rather than forcing the client to give up all attachments, the patient is
counseled and directed to simply modify and change attachments. Addiction is obviously
a deep attachment to a drug or a behavior; recovery is a deep, interdependent attachment
to a new lifestyle and to people sharing that new lifestyle. Patients who have experienced
severe and early childhood abuse and neglect will need intensive trauma therapy to heal
those wounds, and they will also benefit greatly from structured group therapy, where
they can learn to identify and express feelings in an honest, supportive environment.
Treatment programs which recognize attachment disorder also understand the need to
form an effective treatment alliance both with the patient and family. This is done by
assigning consistent primary therapists who form a positive, supportive bond, teach nonenabling
behavior to the family, and reveal the patient’s self-deception to the patient. A
supervised living situation allows for effective professional staff intervention as needed
without over-managing treatment.
New discoveries are constantly being made in the area of attachment disorders. For
example, actual scientific research has proven that if infants or very young children do
not experience the bonding and nurturing they need at that time, brain chemistry and
brain development itself are impaired. The old hospital diagnosis for a frail baby, ‘failure
to thrive” was very likely often the result of either deliberate or inadvertent neglect and
the beginning of what would later become an attachment disorder. A better discovery yet
will be the scientific validation of this approach as more and more people enter into
healthy and rewarding recovery through the formation of healthy, interdependent
attachments.

[yahoonino]

gambling can be use for entertaiment,,,if you play with bills money ,,then you are a fool

[Extra Innings]

It's called pasted.

No shit...but Im half-way through on my dissertation regarding the subject.

[compaqDikk]

Alan Boston said it best

""A lot of gamblers say the action replaces sex, but I really think they mean it replaces relationships and fear of socializing.We're all outcast and gambling occupies our time and we get paid for it.
For me for sure it was a way to make money an be by myself.Now.its become an obsession.I don't think its an addiction.I don't think.But then again, I have no life"

[THE PROFIT]

sammy, it may make the game more exciting to you, but thats not always the case for alot of gamblers. I usually dont watch the games I have money on. To me it doesnt matter if theyre on TV, id rather them not be because those are the ones with sharper lines.

Thats like saying it's more exciting going to work because you have money on it. You have to show up & go through the motions or you dont get paid. With gambling you can get paid on 2 teams youve never heard of playing in a town youve never been to on a sport youve never played.

[Extra Innings]

Alan Boston said it best

""A lot of gamblers say the action replaces sex, but I really think they mean it replaces relationships and fear of socializing.We're all outcast and gambling occupies our time and we get paid for it.
For me for sure it was a way to make money an be by myself.Now.its become an obsession.I don't think its an addiction.I don't think.But then again, I have no life"

Spot on. Same reason why some drink and drug. Pinnacle of Narcissism....blame it on your parents

[Masu485]

holy shit, thanks Extra Innings. love this kind of stuff

[Extra Innings]

Many in "Recovery" disagree with my perspective but I firmly believe that many if not all addictions (including gambling) are partly the result of a failed attempt to self repair, that is, you didn't get what you needed when you were growing up.

[Extra Innings]

In layman's terms

We are programmed to be social but if that program was somehow tainted (Our parents gave us everything/Our parents gave us nothing/You were yelled at or beat for crying/ your parents put their needs over yours/you didnt feel "safe"/ etc, etc, etc) it fuks up how we see people and the world. Everything becomes unpredictable and it screws with the task of becoming a responsible adult.

It is an extremely uncomfortable way of being so we turn to predictable and controllable thing like alcohol, gambling,, and drugs. If I do a line or a shot I know exactly how it will feel. If I win I know how it will feel. There are no surprises.

[iceminers26]

gambling makes watching the games fun sometimes i feel like I would rather not watch the game unless I have action on it gambling after a few years becomes more of a habit that if you don't do, you feel lost w/o when night time rolls around, I make my schedule around sports making sure I can check my phone, computer, or be watching the game at all times Do I think I can win long term.....I don't think of it like that, I think short term and for the rush of gambling, it's a day to day thing, hope that helps

IMO the most successful cappers are the ones that do not even watch the games and definitely do not schedule around games (get a life aside from gambling) . They use their hour or two nightly set aside for capping to cap games not watch them.

[Extra Innings]

IMO the most successful cappers are the ones that do not even watch the games and definitely do not schedule around games (get a life aside from gambling) . They use their hour or two nightly set aside for capping to cap games not watch them.

Stopped watching games a long time ago. NBA totals and the CBS Scoreboard are a sickness in itself

[Extra Innings]

Going to post some screen shots of a book I read regarding AA's role in narcissistic surrender. I think a lot of this can be applied to the GA model (stay tuned)

[Extra Innings]

[Extra Innings]

[Extra Innings]

Good Luck

[jjgold]

I do it more for the rush, I bet any line I can get my fukkin hands on.

Placing a bet is better than doing crack, the before during but the come down after the game is real low and bad.

When I look at lines and scores my stick is so fukkin hard and I feel so high and it blocks out all the negative things in my life.

This is why we gamble..not to win

I bet 98% would not gamble if we won all the time