Psychological gambling Essay

Abstract Few studies have explored the relationship between play and wellness status. Both compulsive and pathological gambling are disorders related to obsession-compulsive disorder. The data supports the notion that gambling does affect with non-gambling health difficultys. The purpose of this article is to provide the teaching between gambling behaviors and substance use disorders, health associations, screening and treatment options for chore and pathological gambling. Pathological gambling is an addictive and stress proposing disorder.More inquiry is needed to investigate at a time the biological and health relations associated with the different types of gambling behaviors and to define the role for doctors or therapists in the prevention and treatment of problem and pathological gambling. There are many types of gambling that tribe indulge in today. People of altogether ages have been seduced by gambling. free rein is d atomic number 53 each day, so as it continues t o grow, so does the debt of the American people. Attractions such as online casinos with jackpots equivalent to ten years salary and simple sports booking, makes it to a greater extent common today than it was yesterday.Gambling is hard to resist because it offers a feeling of hope, and defines that thin line between reality and fantasy that ends with a mental payoff. The main question with this concern is is it all about the m iodiney? It couldnt be all about the money, unless the general public was extremely stupid. The odds of winning the lottery are lesser than the odds of someone being struck by lightning (1 in 649,739) or than someone being killed by a terrorist attack abroad (1 in 650,000). (7).It has been said, If you bought 100 tickets a week your entire adult life, from the age of 18 to 75, youd have a 1 percent chance of winning the lottery. (7) Now, a human body of psychological studies have been done which indicate that the longing to play the lottery has more to do with the inability or unconcern of a somebody to regard the total sum of their own money over conviction spent of these clam tickets. The hope and fantastic feeling they receive is worth more than the dollar they give the 7-11 clerk at that time. Casino games create a different sensation.Whether it be cards, slots, or dice games after being seated in appear of it for an hour or two there will generally be a win, some kind of win. Usually that win is small. It serves the person, or the brain, with a screen of respect. The reward entices the person to want to continue their game so to get another reward (7). The basis for this affirmative award is biological. Research done at the Massachusetts General Hospital has showed similar brain activity induced by prize money to food and drug rewards. The scientists measuring this brain activity compared it with giving a cocaine addict an infusion of cocaine.(2) An experiment was set up wherein the brain activity of the subjects was meas ured while they gambled. Each subject was offered one of three spinners a good spinner offered them a chance to earn $10, $2. 50, or nothing an intermediate spinner offered $2. 50, $0, or -$1. 50 and a drear spinner let them win nothing or lose, -$1. 50 or -$6. (3) The brain activity was measured with a high-field functional magnetic resonance imaging, other than known as an fMRI, while they were spinning for six seconds and after then after they had spun.The results showed that the brain activity proved to be strong, moderate, and low in ossification with the level of spinning good, intermediate and bad. The proportions always demonstrated the expected brain activity. The scientists performing this experiment came to the conclusion that money serves as the same type of reward to humans as does drugs and food it sets into motion a reward mechanism in the brain providing relative stimulus to the amount of reward or departure which is taking place. The similarity suggests that a common brain circuitry is used for various types of rewards.(3) Considering the conclusion of this experiment to be true, there still remains an unsettling question pertaining to gambling and brain circuitry. Why do some people gamble more than others? At first I searched for some demographic conclusions to support a guess that some group of people gambled more than others. However, there simply isnt much discrimination when it comes to gambling. The National Opinion Research Center, a government base study, showed that there is no gender gap in terms of gambling the 1998 statistic showed 49% women and 51% men gamble in general.(1) The consensus showed that all different ages gamble. just about specifications were made like people between thirty and sixty tended to gamble with more money than the younger and older, but that seems natural because that range probably gains the close to salary. It also specified that those under eighteen tended to play less in casino, lottery and h orse races but that is because they were not allowed in. Thus, those under eighteen were showed to make more wagers outside of a gambling facility than the other age groups. Depending on the game, there seemed to be a pretty even distribution of race among gamblers.The tooshie line being the desire to gamble does not depend on any specific background or gender or age or culture. It depends on the human desire to gain monetary pleasure, to get something for little to nothing, to be rewarded via dollars rather than food or drugs. The demographic statistics and equalities listed above still do not account for wherefore some crave gambling more than others. Distinctions have been made among gamblers. The categories are as follows non-gambler, low-risk gambler, at-risk gambler, problem gambler and pathological gambler.(1) The desire to gamble becomes increasingly more prevalent and obsessive as the levels progress. A pathological gambler, according to the DSM-IV criteria is constantly preoccupied with gambling, increases the amounts of money spent over time on gambling so not to achieve a tolerance, cannot stop gambling, gambles as an escape, attempts to break even after having lost money, lies constantly to friends and family about gambling, sometimes commits illegal acts to support gambling, risks significant relationships, jobs, or education for gambling, and uses the financial help of others to be bailed out of some situation caused by gambling.(1) Why are these people so obsessed with gambling that it takes over their lives? It has been hypothesized that pathological gamblers have dysfunctional reward pathways. When the pathways function correctly, one important result is a release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that can stimulate pleasurable feelings. Pathological gamblers have been proven to have lower activity in an enzyme that breaks down neurotransmitters. This may create a problem for serotonin distribution.Also, researchers have identified a greater amount of certain genetic configurations in pathological gamblers, a variation which may be amenable for the deficient reward pathway. (4) The medication prescribed to some of these pathological gamblers who were tested increased their serotonin levels and seemed to have positive effects in the way of their resisting the caprice to gamble. Many equate the pathological desire to gamble with a problem in the decision-making area of the brain, a constant lapse in judgment so to speak.The areas of the brain associated with the decision-making process are the middle frontal, inferior frontal and orbital gyrus. (4) While this neurological analysis may offer some understanding to why people gamble for reward purposes, it does not explain the bigger relationship between human beings and gambling. Gambling does not necessarily need to involve money it can instead be translated to a risk. People gamble everyday whether it be the tasting of a new food or skipping an important production li ne meeting. It seems that gambling is a part of life necessary to perpetuate the human species.Diversification, a part of natural life, involves changeing to different environments and niches. Say a bee only acquired nutrients from one specific flower, never venturing out to samples other types of pollen, what would happen? Suppose one winter that specific type of flower failed to survive, or some sort of extempore extinction occurred, all the bees who fed off this flower would become extinct as well. The same sort of thing may occur if a person moved to a different country, wherein the food looked completely different. In order to stay alive, that person would have to take a chance on a new type of diet.Human beings, as well as a majority of the remaining Animal Kingdom are inclined to diversify and adapt to new surroundings in order to stay strong and able to perpetuate their species. The same notion of adaptation for survival applies to drastic temperature changes and the effec t it has on the body. (5) Although break down temperature is not regulated within narrow limits the way internal body temperature is, thermoregulatory responses do strongly affect the temperature of the shell, and especially its outermost layer, the skin. The temperature of the environment is directly related to the thickness of this shell.If the shell is needed to conserve heat, it may expand to a several centimeters underneath the skins surface, however, if the environment is warm, then the shell will tend to only be about one centimeter thick. This shell of warmth protects people in the case that they wish to change environmental settings, or so the same species can survive in all different locations. The complex nature of the human body responds well to their desire to gamble, to diversify, to excrete their minds and risk. Whether it be monetary, behavioral or just plain desire to risk, humans are drawn towards the new and the chancy.It is the danger of loss and the thrill of life that keeps us breathing.Works Consulted 1)Alvarez,A. The Biggest Game in Town. New York Chronicle Books, 2002. 2)Brunson,Doyle. Doyle Brunsons Super System. Cardoza Pub, 1979. 3)Dostoeyevsky,Fyodor. The Gambler. New York Viking Press, 1966. 4)http//www. norc. uchicago. edu/new/gamb-fin. htm 5)http//www. sciencedaily. com/releases/2001/05/010524062100. htm 6)http//www. sciam. com/article. cfm? articleID=0004400A-E6F5-1C5E-B882809EC588ED9F 7)http//www. gnxp. com/MT2/archives/001309. html 8)http//www. reflection-idea. com/psychics. html.