10 tips from a psychologist on how to get rid of gambling addiction

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Attention! The material contains information about substances, the use of which can cause serious harm to your health!

Modern people are receiving many benefits with the advent of the Internet. Now they can work remotely, pay bills, and spend their leisure time playing interesting games. Often, uncontrolled use of a computer or smartphone leads to the development of a strong gaming addiction. This form of the disease is more psychological in nature. People who develop persistent addiction suffer serious mental disorders, their spine suffers, and their eyesight deteriorates.

• Why is it difficult to get rid of gambling addiction on your own?
• When should you contact a medical psychologist?
• 10 tips from a psychologist on how to overcome addiction to computer games
• Find the cause of the addiction
• Recognize the problem
• Set a strict gaming spending limit
• Set your priorities
• Set a time limit
• Set up a system of rewards and punishments for yourself
• Household issues come first
• Arrange yourself days of gaming fasting
• Take up sports training
• Enlist the support of loved ones
• Don't be afraid to seek medical help
• Treatment of gambling addiction in
• Help from a psychologist
• Rehabilitation of gambling addiction

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Test

To find out for sure about your addiction, get tested. Answer the following questions:

• Do you often feel anxious about your relationship?
• Do you have difficulty saying no?
• Are you constantly seeking his approval?
• If he praises you, does your mood improve?
• Do you panic if your partner is not happy with something?
• Can't imagine your life without him?
• Is he not interested in your goals?

If you only have 1-2 positive responses, this means that you are in the early stages of addiction. If there are already three “yes”, you are at the second stage, in order to prevent the development of the disease in a timely manner, sign up for my consultation, I will help you get rid of it. If 4-7 positive answers, you have the last stage of attachment.

Why is it difficult to get rid of gambling addiction on your own?

People who are addicted to games cannot control their gaming behavior. The desire to constantly be at the computer is gradually crowding out all other activities and interests. It is quite difficult to get out of psychological addiction on your own. This is especially difficult for people who do not have family and friendly support.

With serious gambling addiction, mental disorders occur in the human brain. Dependent people become emotionally unstable, they often experience psychosis if they are separated from their favorite game. In such a state, it is difficult to pull yourself together and cope with the problem. Only a qualified psychologist can help in this situation.

Types of emotional dependence

Addiction can be of different types in different kinds of relationships.

• Love addiction
  usually begins with a fairy-tale love story - two people are constantly inseparable, enjoying each other’s company, new sensations, while friends, girlfriends, relatives fade into the background - lovers do not need anyone. Then the feelings subside and a desire appears to diversify the isolated life with hobbies and meetings with friends. Healthy relationships easily cope with this period, but pathological ones do not. The dependent partner begins to feel that he is no longer loved, that he has been abandoned and betrayed, and the main emotions become resentment, jealousy and dissatisfaction. As a result, the initial idyll is replaced by quarrels, accusations and threats.
• Friendly dependence
  is reminiscent of love, with the only caveat that the characters are friends. There is the same jealousy of other people and activities, the fear of losing a friend and an urgent need to communicate with him. If a friend has a loved one or other friendships, the dependent person becomes depressed and feels betrayed.
• Parental dependence
  is a type of dependence that begins in early childhood due to improper upbringing. This usually occurs due to the oppressive behavior of parents who adhere to a totalitarian style of education or who themselves became victims, experienced psychological trauma, or grew up in an incomplete family. Such parents suppress any attempts by the child to become independent; they are afraid of being left alone or abandoned. Their actions have the color of manipulation - they invent non-existent diseases, promise an inheritance - in a word, they do everything so that the child needs them, simultaneously depriving him of the opportunity to develop a sense of responsibility, make his own decisions, and make an adequate assessment of his actions.

When should you contact a medical psychologist?

If you can’t stop playing on your own, then the only sure way out is to contact an experienced psychologist. The process of developing addiction should not be delayed. The sooner a person begins treatment, the higher the chances of beating gambling addiction forever. If measures are not taken, the addiction will develop further and lead to serious consequences.

The alarm should be sounded when a person tries to devote all his free time to the game. He stops worrying about household chores, he does not want to be interested in the lives of his family and friends. Such closeness from communication is already the first signal that it is time to visit a psychologist.

Causes of bad habits

Traditionally, causes are divided into psychological and physiological.

The most common psychological reasons:

1. Boredom. This is the catalyst for most bad habits. In order to entertain himself with at least something, a person is ready for the most useless actions, the main thing is that they do not require physical and mental effort and are always available.
2. Aimlessness. If a person has low activity and lack of motivation, bad habits are all that remains.
3. Stress. Constant tension requires rest, and the simplest thing you can do is smoke, wander aimlessly on the Internet, lose yourself in a video game, buy an unnecessary thing.
   

   How to work through your anxiety and improve your quality of life - read on the website

4. Social coherence. If a particular habit is considered the norm in society, with a high degree of probability everyone will follow it. Sometimes this is necessary to join the team, sometimes simply because everyone around is doing it.
5. Pleasure. When pleasure becomes a habit, it develops into a painful thirst. A person may not notice how a basically harmless piece of cake (pleasure) can become a regular and harmful action.

The most common physiological reasons:

1. Failure of the targeted action control system. The greater the activity of the orbifrontal cortex, the more purposeful a person’s actions, the less its activity, the more aimless actions a person performs.
2. Weakness of the self-control model.
3. The desire to conserve energy. The more often an action is repeated, the less conscious it becomes, therefore, the less energy needs to be spent on it.
4. A way to get a “dose” of dopamine. Dopamine itself is not a happiness hormone, but simply put, it encourages a person to want something that they can get pleasure from. The only problem is that he cannot “decipher” how beneficial or harmful an action will be for a person in the long term.
   

   Happiness hormones - what they are and how to help your body produce them - read on the website

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To avoid this, a gambling addict should set a spending limit on computer games. With the development of Internet banking, this is not difficult to do - just set a limit on online purchases on a bank card, or purchase a separate card and connect to it an automatic transfer of a certain amount. Of course, in this case, a person himself must clearly understand the prohibition he has created, so as not to try to look for workarounds for it.

Set your priorities

A person involved in a game begins to attach great importance to computer achievements, which gradually crowds out other significant aspects of life. Therefore, to get rid of addiction you need to try to change your way of thinking. It is necessary to realize the fact that as soon as a person changes the game (and with the development of this industry this can happen very quickly), all the achievements obtained in the game will lose meaning.

A person must figure out what is really important to him and direct his main energy in this direction.

OUTPATIENT REHABILITATION

Set a time limit

Before you sit down at your computer or laptop, you can set a timer for a specific time. As soon as the timer signals the end of the game, you will already know that it is time to call it a day. At first, the timer can be set to the maximum time, then the time can be reduced daily. In this way, you can train yourself to play for a very short time, and leave the computer with a feeling of accomplishment.

Set up a system of rewards and punishments for yourself

Learn to praise yourself for every achievement in the fight against gambling addiction, for following the rules, reducing gaming time, and success in real life. Think about what brings you pleasure outside of the computer and treat yourself as a reward. This way, a person will not only be able to get rid of gambling addiction faster, but will also feel the joy of life, ridding himself of depression.

If you don’t follow the established rules, you can punish yourself with physical exercise, memorizing poems or foreign words, that is, something that is very useful to do, but you don’t always want to do.

But in no case should you blame yourself in case of failure, as this will lead to a decrease in self-esteem and loss of self-confidence, which can ultimately result in depression and breakdowns.

Household issues come first

People addicted to games often do not perform simple daily household chores and leave them for later. Make it a rule to complete your home and social responsibilities (school, work, family, everyday life) before playing computer games. You can make it a habit to first wash the floor, dishes, iron the laundry, and for this, play a game as a reward. This way, the person will be motivated to do other homework, and will begin to understand that a person lives not only by playing games, and this is only part of an interesting and rich life.

Arrange yourself days of gaming fasting

Regularly giving up video games will help you rethink your life, find new hobbies, and communicate with friends and relatives. To do this, you just need to not turn on the computer or not use the gadget once a week or a month. You can come up with an incentive for yourself for such endurance. For example, buy a cake or rolls. A day free from games can be spent as interesting and fruitful as possible, then you will understand that in real life there is a lot of good things that you should not give up.

Take up sports training

Gamers spend a lot of time on the computer or phone. They don't notice that the muscles don't move and the fat accumulates. If you start doing physical exercise or jogging, it will help you take your mind off the game and benefit your body. Daily workouts will gradually become a habit, and you will no longer want to spend a lot of time at the computer.

Enlist the support of loved ones

Any addiction is a family problem, and therefore it must be solved together with all family members. Support from loved ones is an important part of recovery from addiction. Psychologists at the rehabilitation center always work not only with the gambling addict himself, but also with his family members, which makes treatment more successful and prevents the possibility of breakdowns.

Don't be afraid to seek medical help

There is no shame in admitting your addiction to people who can help you. Contact specialized psychologists - and they will definitely help you understand yourself and solve the psychological problems that caused the emergence of gambling addiction.

The essence of bad habits: what are they?

In order to understand how to get rid of bad habits, you must first understand what they are and how they appear. In modern psychology, the following types of such dependencies are distinguished:

• physical;
• psychological;
• psychophysiological;
• psycho-emotional.

For example, the habit of biting nails or pens can be classified as a physical addiction, while smoking can be classified as a psychophysiological addiction.

The development of bad habits is influenced by the following factors:

• education, example of parents, adults;
• social and material level, the situation in the house, on the street, in the team;
• ability to interact with other people;
• ability to independently cope with difficulties and stress;
• life attitude.

A person constantly has to solve a huge number of problems, adapt to certain situations that are impossible to influence. Quite often, decisions made run counter to a person’s interests, resulting in an internal conflict—incompatibility between the individual and the environment. This happens both on a physical and psychological level. In this case, a reaction necessarily occurs, and each person has his own, based on natural instincts, but adjusted by life experience, the environment and the opinion of society.

To achieve physical and psychological balance, a person looks for different ways. But when the situation repeats itself, the “exit” found becomes the most optimal under existing conditions. A person uses it again and again, and this “solution” gradually turns into a habit at a reflex level. The desire to look for more correct ways disappears - after all, there is such a familiar “way out”. This is how bad habits arise that can ruin health, life, and cause a lot of trouble both for the person himself and for the people around him.

Literature:

• Egorov A. Yu. Modern approaches to the treatment of gambling addiction. Journal of Neurology and Psychiatry. S.S. Korsakov. Special issues. 2014;114(5-2):46-52.
• Pyatnitsky N.Yu. Statics and dynamics of psychopathy in the concept of E. Kraepelin. Journal of Neurology and Psychiatry. S.S. Korsakov. 2021;121(7):104-113.
• Skokauskas I., Satkeviciute R., Burbv B. Some aspects of pathological attraction to gambling // Psychiatry. 2004. No. 3. P. 59-65.
• Darensky I. D. Gambling addiction // Modern achievements in narcology. Conference materials. M„ 2005. P. 44-45.

Article prepared by an expert

Terekhov Vasily Stanislavovich

Head of the prevention department, coordinator of rehabilitation programs.

Article read by an expert

Barinov Alexander Mikhailovich

Psychiatrist, narcologist, psychotherapist. More than 10 years of experience working with alcohol and drug addicts.

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Where can I find professional help?

If you are faced with such a terrible problem as drug addiction, you should not put off treatment for a long time. You should immediately seek help from professionals in. Treatment of addiction is a rather complex process, but for its successful elimination, the center has created all the necessary conditions.

Specialists actively work with drug addicts, helping them get rid of withdrawal symptoms and find new values ​​in life. During treatment, the patient can see his life from the outside and learn to live again. An important role is also played by working with loved ones of the addict. At the same time, consultations are held for people close to them. Psychologists explain how to act in various situations to prevent breakdowns and consolidate positive results.

The treatment method is determined by the center’s doctors in each case individually. As a rule, it includes the following stages:

• Consultation with a specialist.

• Detoxification.
• Elimination of withdrawal syndrome.
• Restoration of the body.
• Rehabilitation.

Having gone through all stages, the patient completely gets rid of cravings for psychoactive substances and returns to a normal, healthy life.

Drugs are a word that has destroyed more than one life. If you do not want to become their next victim and want to protect your loved ones, you should clearly know what substances cause addiction and where they can be purchased. But if trouble has already come to your home, then you should start treatment from professionals as soon as possible.