An addiction is any behavior which puts you out of control. It is any substance which makes you want it so much that you set aside the usual common sense actions and feel pulled towards the addictive behavior or substance so strongly that it begins to take precedence over work, relationships, health, everything.
People can be addicted to caffeine and not be able to get by in a day without a significant amount of coffee or Mountain Dew. Yet, with that, they can usually still function in society quite well. People get addicted to cigarettes and still function well within society, at least until it begins to take a toll on their health (and more recently, on their marketability for employment.)
Addiction to alcohol begins to cause problems after a while, and addiction to drugs even sooner, as they affect the brain and behavior, making people less useful overall. Another addictive behavior is gambling.
There’s something about gambling that gets the blood racing and causes the dopamine level in the brain to excite and bring a real rush to the gambler. Of course, if he loses all of the time, the excitement might die down quite a lot. But in most cases, gamblers win just often enough to keep them coming back again and again.
A story from Bismarck this past spring gives a good example of what it is like. The gambler stated, “There is nothing physical about it, it’s a mental addiction. " I remember one afternoon I was half way there before I even realized where I was it was just a black out and I couldn't turn around.” He began to spin out of control, skipping work and even disappearing for days. “I knew I had a problem but I had no idea it was an addiction I just thought there was something wrong with me not that it was an addiction like alcohol.”
Counselors are able to teach gamblers how to get out from under their debt. For this particular gambler, his son had to confront him with his credit card receipts. “For one thing you are always chasing your losses and you never make it up and once you quit and the big thing is all the time I lost I'll never get that back.”
With any addiction, the first step comes with realizing that there is a problem and seeking assistance so that someone can help to overcome the strong desires. There are places to find help.
