Disturbing reports have come from the UK about gambling addiction on ordinary streets. Casino machines are now in corner markets and convenient stores, made readily accessible by business owners. Anyone can stop into a takeaway and spend extra money on a few rounds of gambling. Unfortunately, that simple and easy trend can become a major problem. Spending recklessly and uncontrollably, someone can lose their ability to even buy a takeaway meal for themselves, becoming completely addicted to gambling.
Without treatment and intervention, gambling addiction can become a severe problem for both men and women. Individuals cause harm to themselves and to their families when they get lost into gambling. Treatment and intervention for gambling addiction can prevent future losses of health, wealth, and sanity.
First, it is important for an individual with a gambling addiction to understand what designates problem gambling to begin with. For people who become addicted to processes like gambling, their reality is distorted. They are convinced under the delusion of their addiction that their practices in gambling are normal. Most often, they are surrounded by other people who are also gambling addicts, normalizing the experience of compulsive, problematic gambling. After gaining an understanding of what normal versus problematic gambling is, change can start to occur. Gambling fills a space in someone’s life. When gambling is taken away, that space is left empty again. Treatment programmes like the ones offered at Smarmore Castle Private Clinic give those with gambling addicts many ways to create new, deeper meaning in life to fulfill the void gambling addiction once filled. Cognitive behavioral therapy and other therapeutic methods help improve impulse control, build self-esteem and create more confidence in living without gambling. Life skills for developing financial management help gambling addicts pay their debts while continuing to get their life back in working order.
Gamblers Anonymous is a 12 step program designed to support those with gambling addiction problems to find a spiritual solution. Working through the 12 steps, gambling addicts find support from their peers while they improve their relationships with themselves and others.
Smarmore Castle Private Clinic offers residential treatment programmes for gambling addiction. We are the first treatment facility in Ireland to use the Castle Craig model, proven in success for over 25 years. For information, call us today: +353 41 214 5111
