Gambling Is A Brain Disease

Treat Addiction. News Release FOR IMMEDIATE REVIEW Contact: Alexis Geier‐Horan (301) 656‐3920 x103 ageier@asam.org ASAM RELEASES NEW DEFINITION OF ADDICTION Addiction Is a Chronic Brain Disease, Not Just Bad Behaviors or Bad Choices. Addiction as a brain disease is similarly construed as a sort of “secular possession”. Rather than a malady of the weak-willed, addiction reframed as a pathology of the weak-brained (or weak-gened) bears just as much potential for wielding stigma and creating marginalized populations. Gambling can stimulate the brain's reward system much like drugs or alcohol can, leading to addiction. If you have a problem with compulsive gambling, you may continually chase bets that lead to losses, hide your behavior, deplete savings, accumulate debt, or even resort to theft or fraud to support your addiction.

  1. Addiction Is A Brain Disease
Addiction is a brain diseaseBrain

Addiction Is A Brain Disease

Shen, & Glombiewski, 2013). Biological Factors Addictions are known to activate the culmination of sites in the brain that make up the ‘reward centre’ which is responsible for feeling happiness or pleasure through the release of dopamine (Linden, 2011). After repeated exposures, receptors in the brain build a tolerance towards the addiction meaning that there is a need for increased stimulation to provide a similar ‘high’. Eventually behaviour patterns develop so as to avoid withdrawal. At this point addiction is occurring and symptoms should be observable. Like other addictions, it is believed that IAD causes a release of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens (Ko et al., 2009). It must then be discussed why certain behaviours or substances activate the reward centre resulting in addiction. It has been agreed that, much similar to gambling addiction, Internet addiction functions through a variable ratio reinforcement schedule (Young, 2011). However, it is also is theorised that those who use the Internet or other similar technologies experience various rewards that are unpredictable in nature, depending on the application they are using (such as: video games, emails, social media, pornography, message boards and texting). Paired with the mood altering content of the application the reward activation is increased. Examples of mood altering content include video games (social inclusion, achieving tasks unobtainable in real life), pornography (sexual gratification), and online

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