Just whatever you need to know

Who becomes addicted to online gambling?

What we have now is modern technology bringing about an availability of reinforcement, a feeling good, a reward instantaneously. It’s seductive. Let’s say you have an hour to burn and you are bored. You could log on and gamble. It’s like having the slot machines at the airport where you’re trying to kill an hour and you start playing and you start winning. Gambling is now inside the home. It’s now inside your private space. No one knows about it. No one sees it. And you can sort of get seduced and sort of say, “Well, this is sort of fun, and it keeps my mind occupied. It feels good, and why not?”

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Can gambling addiction be cured?

We have to define what a cure for a gambling addiction is. Can an addicted individual evolve to a place where gambling no longer has the emotional tie, the compulsive and obsessive attraction. Absolutely, without a doubt, it happens all the time. People are able to self-cure. But the reality is that we never really are cured from alcoholism or gambling, because what we have with all these, is something learned. For example, no one is born with a gambling addition, they practiced and then they practiced some more and over the course of time the person has built neurological pathways in their brain that were not there when they were born. So, over the years, these pathways get stronger and stronger and now they’ve decided not to gamble anymore. Does that mean that that neurological circuitry that they’ve self-developed goes away? No, it’s like a freeway that’s always going to be there. We can develop ways from getting from point A to point B anew. We can develop a new freeway to make ourselves feel good. We can develop ways to avoid going down that old path called gambling, but can we ever eliminate it? I don’t think so.

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What is “self-exclusion” for gambling addicts?

Self-exclusion is sort of a mechanical form of intervention. Some people find it very helpful, other people find it unhelpful. If you were a gambler, and let’s say there was a casino within driving distance from you, and you didn’t want to be tempted by going to this local casino, you could contact the casino and develop an exclusion, a contract with them. And they would try to keep you out of their casino. It’s sort of protecting you against yourself.

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Who leads SMART Recovery meetings?

In all SMART meetings there is a trained leader. They are not peer led. They’re led by someone who’s been to a training session. Usually sort of endorsed by SMART national and they’ve read a number of volumes on the topic of cognetive behavioral therapy and have predone homework assignments and other sort of tools. There’s even a manual. It’s nothing really more than variety of exercises to help people identify the thinking that leads to the behavior.

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What is the difference between SMART Recovery and Gamblers Anonymous?

Someone who would attend a SMART meeting would be sitting in a group usually no larger than 10 to 15 people, as opposed to GA, which could get quite a bit larger. There is no sponsor system. There is no 12 steps or utility for a higher power. It’s a science-based support group based on cognitive behavioral therapy. There is an orientation to identify the thinking that leads to the feelings that leads to the behavior, which is central to all cognitive behavioral therapy.

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How is a program like SMART Recovery different from a 12-step program?

SMART Recovery attendees versus G.A. attendees all have quite a different experience. SMART Recovery’s based on cognitive behavioral therapy, and it will be more educational - there is no sponsor system, there is no twelve-step higher power Four Absolute properties in it; it will teach them how to change their thinking, it changes their feelings and behaviors.

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What is “SMART Recovery”?

Self-Management and Recovery Training. It is a 51(c) self-help support group. It’s national, although nowhere near as large as a 12-step sort of group or GA, but it is available in some larger cities.

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