About this leaflet
This leaflet is for:
- anyone who is worried about their
gambling
- the family, partner and friends of
anyone whose gambling has become a problem.
In this leaflet you can find out about:
- Is problem gambling common?
- Is my gambling a problem?
- How can someone lose control of their
gambling?
- Living with a problem gambler -
advice the family, partners and friends
- The risks
- What help can I get?
- How to get help
- Further information and links.
How common is problem gambling?
Many of us like to place the odd bet or play
the lottery - but it’s only a problem for about 6 people in every
1000.
Who is most likely to get this problem?
Across the world it seems to be common:
- In men – but this might just be
because women gamble less than men.
- In teenagers and young adults -
but problems of this sort can start at any age. Children as young
as 7 may find it difficult to control the amount of time they spend
on computer games. Older people may have too much time on their
hands.
- If someone else in your family
– particularly one of your parents - is a problem gambler. This may
be partly due to genes but can be learnt – by seeing a parent
gamble or being taught to gamble by them.
- In people who work in casinos,
betting shops or amusement arcades.
- In certain types of gambling:
* Internet gambling
* Video poker
* Dice games
* Playing sports for
money
* High-risk stocks
* Roulette
Is it a problem for me?
Answer 'yes' or 'no' to each of these 10
questions:
- Do I spend a lot of time thinking about
gambling?
- Am I spending larger amounts of money on my
gambling?
- Have I tried to cut down or stop gambling -
but not been able to?
- Do I get restless or irritable
if I try to cut down my gambling?
- Do I gamble to escape from
life’s difficulties or to cheer myself up?
- Do I carry on playing after losing money - to
try and win it back?
- Have I lied to other people about how much
time or money I spend gambling ?
- Have I ever stolen money to fund my
gambling?
- Has my gambling affected my relationships or
my job?
- Do I get other people to lend me money when I
have lost?
If you have answered 'yes'
- Just once - Maybe a problem
- This one thing may be enough of a problem to need help.
- Three times - Problem
gambling - Your gambling probably feels out of control - think
about getting help.
- Five or more times -
Pathological gambling - Your gambling is probably affecting every
part of your life - get help.
How do you lose control of your gambling?
You may gamble:
- to forget about responsibilities
- to feel better when you feel depressed or
sad
- to fill your time when bored (especially if
not working)
- when you drink or use drugs
- when you get angry with others - or
yourself.
Or, you may have:
- started gambling early – some people
start as young as 7 or 8
- never been able to control your gambling
- one or both parents who are problem
gamblers.
Should I stop gambling or try to control
it?
The first thing is to decide to get help
- you can then work out whether you are ready to stop or just
want to control your gambling better. Many people just want to
control their gambling, but then decide to stop completely.
Living with a problem gambler
- Being married to or a partner
of a problem gambler – or being their parent or child - is
hard and can be distressing.
- Your loved one will probably have tried to
hide the size of the problem from you, while they have at the same
time borrowed or stolen to pay off debts.
- If, with the help of the 10 questions above,
you can see that gambling is a problem for someone in your family,
it's best to be honest with him or her about it. They need to know
about the pain and trouble they are causing other people and that
help is there for them.
- If your gambling relative doesn't take any
notice, you can get support for yourself from one of the services
listed at the end of the leaflet. There are groups and individual
sessions to support family members.
The risks
Problem gamblers are more likely than other
people to:
- become depressed
- have alcohol or drug problems
- commit suicide out of desperation because of
their feelings of being trapped by their debts
- be separated or divorced
- have committed a crime to support their
gambling.
It's better to get help before you run into
trouble.
Where can I get help?
All of the following provide ree support
to help you cut down or stop gambling:
- NHS: The
CNWL
National Problem Gambling Clinic in London has
doctors, nurses, therapists, psychologists, debt counsellors and
family therapists with special experience in helping problem
gamblers.
- Gamcare
- a charity that treats problem gambling across the UK.
It has a range of counsellors and therapists for both face-to-face
and telephone counselling.
- The Gordon Association
- a charity which provides treatment and housing for
problem gamblers.
- The 12 step meetings of Gamblers
Anonymous.
- Gamanon: groups for
relatives of problem gamblers.
What sort of help is there?
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
Research has shown that CBT can:
- reduce the number of days a
person gambles
- reduce the amount of money they
lose
- help a gambler to stay away from
gambling once they have stopped.
How does CBT work?
If you are a problem gambler, you will think differently from other
people about your betting. You will tend to believe that:
- you are more likely to win than you would
expect by chance
- in a game with random numbers, like roulette,
certain numbers are more likely to come up than others
- winning twice in a row means that you are on
a 'winning streak' – so you bet larger and larger sums
- you are more likely to win at a game of
chance if you are familiar with it
- certain rituals can bring you luck
- having lost, you can somehow win back your
losses by gambling more.
CBT is given in around 10 one-hour
sessions. The sessions focus on these ways of thinking, but
also on how you feel and behave when you want to bet or when you
are gambling. CBT helps you to work out more helpful ways of
thinking and behaving. A diary helps you to keep track of your
improvement. In the months following treatment, follow-up CBT
sessions in a group seem to help people stay away from gambling
longer.
How does CBT compare with other
treatments? We don’t know yet - there have not been
enough large studies to be clear about this.
12 Step Programmes
This is an approach which assumes that a
dependence on drink or gambling is a disease and that the best
people to support you are those who have had similar experiences.
Regular meetings are held in which people can share the problems
they have had and the ways in which they have overcome them. They
also have a 'buddy' system, where each member has another member
whom they can contact if they feel that they are about to drink or
gamble again. The 12 Step fellowship, Gamblers Anonymous, offers
meetings throughout the UK and many problem gamblers find these
meetings helpful. You may also need practical help:
- Managing your debts
- Dealing with family problems
- Treat other psychological/psychiatric
problems, e.g. depression.
Medication
No medication is licensed for
the treatment of problem gambling in the UK but antidepressants can be
prescribed to help with low mood.
What if I don’t get help?
About a third of problem gamblers
will recover on their own without treatment and – about 2 in 3
will continue to have problems, which tend to get worse.
How to get help and when
Don’t wait until life does not seem worth
living. If you get help, you will feel better and avoid many
problems with your life and health.
You can refer yourself by calling or emailing
the contacts below:
References
- American Psychiatric
Association (2000). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental
disorders (4th ed, text rev) Washington, DC.
- British Gambling Prevalence
Survey (2007). Gambling Commission, UK.
- Black D et al (2003) Quality
of life and family history in pathological gambling. Journal of
Nervous and Mental Disease, 191, 124-126.
- Blaszczynsky AP et al (1991)
A comparison of relapsed and non-relapsed abstinent pathological
gamblers following behavioural treatment. British Journal of
Addiction, 86, 1485-1489.
- Griffiths MD (1990) The
acquisition, development, and maintenance of fruit machine gambling
in adolescents. Journal of Gambling Studies, 6, 193-204.
- Ladouceur R et al (2002)
Understanding and treating pathological gambling. New York,
Wiley.
- Petry N (2005) Pathological
Gambling. American Psychological Association.
- Shaffer HJ, Bilt JV and Hall
MN (1999) Gambling, drinking, smoking and other health risk
activities among casino employees. American Journal of
Industrial Medicine, 36, 365-378.
- Wohl MJA et al (2002) The
effects of near wins and near losses on self-perceived personal
luck and subsequent gambling behaviour. Journal of Experimental
Social Psychology, 39, 184-191.
-
(2007) National Survey of Gambling
This leaflet was produced by the RCPsych Public
Education Editorial Board.
Series Editor: Dr Philip Timms
Original Author: Dr Henrietta Bowden-Jones
Editorial Board: Dr Jim Bolton, Dr Martin
Briscoe, Dr Jonathan Dewhurst, Dr Jennifer Drife, Deborah Hart, Dr
Ashok Kumar, Dr Ros Ramsay,
Dr Ajoy Thachil
Expert review: Faculty of Addictions' Users
and Carers Group
Illustration by Lo Cole/inkshed.co.uk
Updated: December 2008. Due for review: December 2011.
© December 2008 Royal College of
Psychiatrists.This leaflet may be downloaded, printed out,
photocopied and distributed free of charge as long as the RCPsych
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