Things You'll Need:
- A desire to learn the signs of gambling addiction and when gambling addiction help may be needed.
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Step 1
One sign of gambling addiction is that gambling addicts are constantly thinking about gambling. If they are not gambling at a given moment, they are planning on their next gambling session. This level of obsession with gambling is an indication that the person might be in serious need of gambling addiction help.
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Step 2
Another symptom of gambling addiction is the desire to continue gambling no matter what is going on: whether they are winning, or losing, whether they have any money to continue gambling or not, and regardless of how they are feeling inside (pleased or sad or neutral). Even when a gambling addict knows that his gambling habits are sending himself and his family further and further into debt, he cannot seem to stop himself from continuing to gamble. (This is why gambling addiction is often described as a “compulsion” and why gambling addicts are described as having a serious problem with impulse control.)
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Step 3
People who are at risk of becoming gambling addicts start out as “problem gamblers,” that is, people who gamble either because they love the adrenaline rush and the action, or because they long to escape their day to day reality.
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Step 4
Additional signs that people may be in need of gambling addiction help are if they neglect their responsibilities to their family and careers in order to gamble and/or they keep their gambling a secret and/or if they gamble with money that they truly cannot afford to lose.
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Step 5
Some people are under the mistaken impression that wealthy people cannot be in need of gambling addiction help because they have more than enough money and their gambling habits are not causing them to go into debt. This is untrue, however, because even if they can afford to lose the money, they still may be obsessed with their gambling to the point where they are neglecting everything else in their lives.
