There are many addictions out there and although all are difficult to overcome, a gambling addiction can be especially damaging to you and others around you. Unlike a drug addiction, that’s harmful to your own body, but a gambling addiction can be just as damaging to your spouse and family. Pathological gambling is the only non-substance addiction in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. They classify it as an impulse control disorder. Those who suffer from this are unable to resist impulse or temptation to perform acts that are harmful to themselves or to others. In order to help somebody with a gambling addiction, you have to understand what makes someone a pathological gambler.

Someone who is a pathological gambler is someone who is constantly preoccupied with gambling. They’ll often have difficulty controlling their gambling behavior and can’t find a way to stop. Pathological gamblers also get into trouble with their financial situation as a whole. They’ll start gambling with larger amounts of money so they can achieve the excitement of winning big. Some will start stealing money in order to gamble. Their entire world will revolve around gambling so other aspects of their life, like their job or family, will become disrupted.

You can keep an eye on your family members to see if they’ll develop an issue with gambling. If they start participating in activities frequently involving memory, it’s best to keep a watchful eye. They’ll participate in poker games, bingo, lotteries, scratch tickets, game betting, and visit casinos frequently. However, just because someone participates in these activities, doesn’t necessarily mean they are a pathological gambler. It’s only when they start making it a priority in their lives or is scrapping together the funds in order to do it, is when it’s a problem.

Having a gambling addiction often distorts how we understand the money process. Gambling is an ineffective way of earning money and it’s also not a guarantee. Addicted gamblers often think that when they win it’s because of the effort they made and not luck. If they’re superstitious, they’ll think it’s because they wore their “lucky hat” or “lucky charm” on. Also, those that gamble believe that if they develop a systematic way of winning when it came to electronic machines, they’ll be able to overcome any house advantages. Casinos work very hard to make sure that any winner is truly random and that there was no pattern for winning. Unfortunately, many still take the time to try to learn a system, but are obviously, fail trying. Many people who have a gambling problem and lose, will often continue gambling because they believe that they’ll eventually win the money back, when in all reality, they’re digging themselves a deeper hole.

Unfortunately, there are many people who are currently suffering from a gambling addiction. With so many ways to “win big,” it’s no wonder why people are jumping in at the possibility. You only see in the paper and on the news about the people who won the lottery, but when do you ever hear about the losers? Although some experts don’t believe that gambling can actually become an addiction, it’s only proven in the numbers given by the gambling industry. People are spending more of their earnings at casinos and lotteries instead of putting it in the bank. If people spent their hard earned money into an interest bearing savings account instead of gambling away at the possibilities, they’d have more money in their pockets and wouldn’t have to gamble.

Well it’s difficult to overcome the addiction of gambling and even the sanest of souls succumb to the temptation but instead of going for a harmless situs poker online their addiction starts getting big with each win.