You’ve tried and tried again. Despite all of your efforts to abstain you find yourself back in throes of casino gaming and/or sports betting. More troubling, is that you persist even though you’re experiencing a number of the harms associated with the activity. In what feels like a last ditch effort, you have come online to ask “why is it so hard to quit gambling?” in hopes of better understanding the compulsion and finding a resolution that will allow you to regain control over your life. Kindbridge Behavioral Health is here to help. Below is an overview of why you, and millions of other Americans, struggle to stop gambling in the face of negative outcomes.
7 Things That Typically Make it Hard to Quit, Stop, or Take a Break from Gambling (and what you can do about it)
The Dopamine Connection
It’s easy enough for people to wrap their head around why it’s hard to beat a substance (i.e. psychoactive drugs) addiction because there is a chemical dependency characterized by the physical body’s dependence on a given substance. But when it comes to process addictions (view more) such as problem gambling, individuals tend to dismiss the chemical characteristic, leaving them (yourself included) baffled by the inability to abstain.
In truth, there is most certainly a chemical reaction involved in gambling, primarily in the form of dopamine release. The release of dopamine is considered a chemical reaction because it involves the transformation of a precursor molecule (L-DOPA) into dopamine through the action of enzymes within a neuron, fundamentally triggering a biochemical process to release the neurotransmitter dopamine into the synapse.
For the initiated, dopamine is a naturally occurring neurotransmitter in the brain that is responsible for feelings of pleasure, satisfaction, and motivation. These feelings are why dopamine is crudely referred to as the “feel good hormone”. A surge of dopamine can create an experience similar to the euphoria associated with use of cocaine or other addictive stimulant drugs.
Research confirms that both casino gaming and sports betting raise dopamine levels. The reaction can drive you to keep gambling even when you know that you should to stop to collect your winnings or put a cork on your losses. On that latter note, studies find that losing can trigger a release of dopamine to almost the same extent as winning. As time progresses, your brain and body become accustomed to this psychological and physiological response and habitual (if not compulsive) behavior is formed.
The gambling and dopamine connection provides clarity on one component of why it is so hard to stop gambling. By understanding that you’re up against a powerful neurotransmitter that communicates messages between nerve cells in your brain, you will understand that abstinence won’t occur with a snap-of-the-finger change in behavior, but through professional intervention. View more on the gambling dopamine connection.
A Coping Mechanism for Cooccurring Issues
Research confirms that disordered gambling and problem gambling cooccur with a variety of mental health concerns. These include, but are not exclusive to, the following (click accompanying links for details:
- Anxiety
- Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
- Bipolar disorder
- Chronic anger and irritability
- Depression
- Post traumatic stress disorder
- Obsessive compulsive disorder
Overcoming gambling when living with cooccurring mental health concerns is challenging enough. However, when you consider that gambling can serve as a distraction and coping mechanism to deal with the negative feelings associated with any one of the above, you can see why it is so hard to quit (where applicable).
Online Platforms Designed to Keep You Gambling
Online casino gaming and sports betting platforms aren’t just designed for optimal user experience (UX), they are designed to keep you gambling with greater volume and frequency. Manipulative elements of this nature are referred to as dark patterns. There are ten commonly used dark patterns that you may recognize in your online gambling experiences, including the following:
- Quick and friction free sign-up process
- Promises of free play and or free cash
- Default deposit and wager amounts that are much higher than actually required
- Confusing or hidden rollover requirements
- Maximum withdrawal limits
- Default prompts to parlay and/or place other bets beyond what you initially intended
- Prompts to participate in live betting (beyond what you initially intended)
- Hard to find unsubscribe and close account functions
- Immortal accounts (never fully closed)
- Player protections / self-exclusions hidden in fine print
While dark pattern design is found in some shape or form in all gambling apps and websites, offshore operator dark pattern design is more explicit and without consideration for responsible gaming practices. Click or tap here to uncover these tactics in greater detail.
Surrounded by Enablers
If you find yourself asking “why is it so hard to stop gambling?” and a disproportionate number of people in your social (even professional) circle are gamblers, you have some of the answer you’re looking for. Surveys consistently show that peer pressure is a reason why certain populations, namely young adult males, participant in sports betting. They find it difficult to not gamble when their peers are doing so, indicating that they follow the behaviors of their group. They indicate how gambling dominates peer discussions, and that general talk about sports has morphed into talk about sports betting ever since the activity became regulated in their respective states. View more on gambling peer pressure and how it may be making it difficult for you to detach from the activity.
Surrounded by Gambling Promotions
When trying to quit gambling, you realize that you must remove yourself from temptation, or triggers. The problem with attempting to do so on in a post-2018 America (when the federal ban on sports betting was removed) is that gambling advertising and marketing is everywhere. Promotional messages (triggers) to gamble run not just during sports events, but during family TV programming and the like. Further, gambling promotions are on regular social media rotation as influencers promote the activity to mass millions.
Not Recognizing You Need Help to Quit
Your search for insight into the question of “why is it so hard to quit gambling?” confirms that you realize how challenging it is, but it doesn’t confirm that you understand the importance of professional intervention. By not recognizing this, you rob yourself of the opportunity to be free from the relentless grip that gambling has on your life. The good news, is that you’ve made it this far through the article. You will now understand that counselors who are specifically trained in creating custom treatment strategies for problem gambling and cooccurring issues are ready to receive you. Please keep reading.
Not Having Access to Support Services
Even those who recognize that they need help are left feeling frustrated by not having access to specialized counselors in their area. Sure, there are general clinicians and therapists in nearly every community, but in a country where more than half of adults with mental health struggles go without treatment due to access limitations, what are the odds of finding a therapist in a community who specializes in treating problematic gambling behavior? This is where Kindbridge comes in. Our virtual platform (online + telehealth) provides customized, powerful, and effective treatment for problem gambling to all Americans. Reach out via your preferred form of contact below to get help.
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