Rechard Nguyen
The Influence of Gambling on the Human Psyche
Gambling-associated entertainment as a way of spending free time can be a fun and exciting activity as long as it does not turn into obsession. In fact, scientists have long noticed the link between the gambling-associated addiction and our mental health. The impact of gaming-powered entertainment on human psyche is immense, so let’s discuss how gaming-related activities can affect our state of mind and whether this should be regarded as a problem or something insignificant that can be easily avoided.
How Can This Affect Our Brains?
Fundamentally, gambling brings players a sense of belonging to a particular community, majorly because they can get into contact with many other gamblers, even if they are using services of online casinos, especially if it is a brand like Slots of Vegas. It might seem as if nothing is wrong here and gambling is just a way of sharing your emotions with others and having lots of fun all along. Indeed, we all need social acceptance in order to stay mentally healthy and maintain stability in our lives. Nonetheless, gambling-driven pastime could also cause damage to our psyche.
Researchers have recently discovered that gambling changes the way we feel psychologically, emotionally and socially. Basically, it allows us to escape from our regular lives and day-to-day hardships that we are faced with in our everyday activities. During the gambling-driven session, our psyche undergoes changes, because our mind is majorly preoccupied with the probability of winning, the question of what the next bet will be and the following the actions of the rest of players. It can be increasingly consuming and sometimes overwhelming for our psyche, but it is still an engaging and captivating experience that brings us a feeling of satisfaction at the initial stages of gambling-related activities. Such feelings and emotions cannot be experienced in other spheres of our ordinary life, which is why gambling-associated hobby time may sometimes turn into an unhealthy passion and become a problem for some people. This leads to the development of compulsive gambling behavior.
How Does This Work at the Biological Level?
From the perspective of biology, gambling has a direct influence on our psyche and in particular, the dopamine reward mechanism inside our brain. This mechanism controls the way we respond to essential rewards such as eating or interacting with others. In case gambling becomes a repeated action and turns into compulsive behavior, it could change the chemical structure of brain cells and produce a great effect on our psyche and, consequently, well-being. Under the influence of compulsive gaming behaviors, people would no long respond properly to the normal rewards in their day-to-day lives and instead only gambling will bring them a sense of satisfaction.
Research on this matter has revealed that over 75% of problem gamblers undergoing treatment suffered from depressive state as a co-occurring mental disorder. Surprisingly, from 15 to 40% of pathologically addicted individuals suffered from anxiety throughout their lives. There are also other psyche-related illnesses associated with gaming, such as bipolar disorder (prevalent in 20% of cases) as well as ADHD among many others. This makes us think that for some fans of gambling-driven activities the pressure associated with such means of entertainment is simply too pronounced and greatly affects their psyche, so that the untreated mental disorders come up to the surface and produce an impact on their daily lives. What is more, the risk of committing a suicide is much higher among gamblers than those who have never had a passion for such means of entertainment.
Who is More Vulnerable to the Development of Mental Disorders Caused by Gambling?
Evidently, the most vulnerable group of people that is more likely to develop mental disorders due to their passion for gambling includes those who are already suffering from instable psyche or some mental health-related illnesses such as the ones described above. One more category of people whose psyche is likely to be affected by gambling in a negative way comprises addictive personalities who either have a family record of any kind of addictions or have been suffering from substance abuse or alcohol addiction at some point in their lives. On the other hand, those who have never had obsessive passion for anything should not be afraid of getting addicted to casino-powered amusements, simply because they are not susceptible to the addictive behaviors of any kind.
How to Protect Yourself from the Dangerous Influence of Gaming on Your Psyche?
The only way to protect your mental health from the dangers associated with casino-oriented entertainment is to know where to stop. People gamble for various reasons, including a feeling of excitement, adrenaline rush, the element of competition, the thrill of risk or just because it is a way to escape from stressful situations in our daily lives. But it is important to remember that anything can turn into obsession if you don’t know where to stop. Don’t turn your hobby into an uncontrollable passion and your psyche will be perfectly safe from any dangers.
by Rechard Nguyen on 2019-05-15 03:27:43
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