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Compulsive Gambling
Compulsive behaviors usually include
gambling – and no one knows that more
than Sandy Yakim. Yakim is very careful
about noting what she pays out and what
she gets in. She is divorced, and is a
retired schoolteacher who put her
daughter through college, on her own.
However, she is also a compulsive
gambler who has been headed toward rock
bottom for the past three years. Once
she discovered the slot machines, she
came and played them all the time and
before she knew it – what was originally
a couple of hours here and there quickly
became 12 hour marathons. When all was
said and done, she had lost $50,000.
The problem with compulsive gambling is
that there are no real signs of a
problem. Other addictions have tell tale
signs, but no one usually knows if a
person has a slot machines addiction
until they have lost practically
everything. In fact, addicted gamblers
usually have a very high addiction rate,
which just adds to the problem – because
no one knows that they are addicted and
then they kill themselves leaving
everyone shocked and surprised that they
even had a problem.
As can be seen with slot machine
addicts, their brain chemistry is the
same as someone sitting at a bar
ordering drink after drink without the
ability to stop themselves. Their
suicide rate is actually one of the
highest of any addiction, but one of the
reasons why it is so high is because
before people know they have a problem,
many times they are already dead.
Psychiatrists say that it takes a
certain kind of counselor to know how to
deal with the slot machine or gambling
addiction, because it really is the same
internally as another kind of addiction
– the same mentally – but the outside
factors and triggers are different. They
are much harder to see, which makes it
harder to treat.
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