The Gambling Disorder and Assessment
A pathological gambler persistently spends a chunk of his time and money at the casinos and other gambling establishments at the risk of his family relationships, job, finances and other vocational pursuits. A person diagnosed with a gambling problem has no control over himself to cease gambling. There are several symptoms but one sticks out is the impulse of the person to keep playing without regard of the consequences. Another symptom is plainly addiction. Such individuals continue to play because they feel a need to increase their stake - the bigger the stakes, the bigger the jackpot, but all the worse if they lose. The other symptom is also the lack of control to withdraw. When they try to quit gambling, they feel distressed. And as far as they know it, the only way to cope with such stress is to go back to the roulette wheel, or the poker table, or the slot machine again. Psychologists have classified individuals with two to four gambling symptoms as gambling hazardously. An individual with five or more symptoms are diagnosed as a pathological gambler.
Ask any ex-gambler diagnosed as pathological or hazardous and they would relate that gambling has caused him/her personal and financial difficulties such as excessive debt and divorce. His/her general health would have been marked as poor at the time of their behavioral disorder, which doctors acknowledge as a mental and an emotional problem. Pathological gamblers often experience job loss. And they are twice as likely to quit their jobs or be fired. Twenty percent of these individuals file for bankruptcy, which is four times more than non-gamblers filing the same (5%). More often than not they become dependent on alcohol and drugs.
But years of research regarding gambling disorders have paid of with our improving understanding of what pathological and hazardous gambling are, how to treat them and how to prevent them. This helps a mental health professional assess of what really goes on inside the head of a gambler. This way, he could rule out other psychological difficulties to lead to a significant attention to the gambler's problems.
Assessment of an individual with gambling disorder includes a complete diagnosis of his/her symptoms with the emotions and thoughts that come with it. Second, the mental health professional tries to find out if there are other personal difficulties such as substance abuse or manic depression so that he would know how treatment should be provided. The determination of particular stressors is pinned down so that the professional would know what pressures to level down. Stressors are the key that can either complicate the disorder or treat it. Lastly, feedback from the individual themselves should be completed and carefully assessed for the professional to admit him to proper treatment.
Just in ...
What to see next