Gambling Addiction
Bridges to Recovery recognizes the unique needs of people living with a mental health disorder and a co-occurring gambling addiction, and combines the most effective therapies available to provide meaningful, comprehensive treatment. Through our in-depth assessment process, our experienced, multidisciplinary team will provide diagnostic clarity and ensure the full scope of your emotional and behavioral symptoms are addressed. Your personalized treatment plan is designed to encompass both your primary psychological illness and the accompanying gambling addiction, in order to create meaningful interventions that lead to lasting change and minimize the risk of relapse. Individual psychotherapy, group therapy, and holistic therapies are employed along with 12-step peer support and psychotropic therapy, where appropriate, to fully engage you in the healing process. In a supportive, non-judgmental environment, our clinicians guide you toward increased insight, enhanced impulse control, and the ability to take charge of your life as you recover from the damaging effects of gambling.
From Destruction to Recovery
Gambling addiction often has innocuous roots, but what starts as an enjoyable pastime can turn into a self-destructive compulsion that requires professional intervention. Whether your gambling takes the form of slot machines, sports betting, poker, roulette, or lottery tickets, the drive to bet can lead to a cycle of psychological suffering, social alienation, and financial devastation. Although gambling is not a substance addiction, the dopamine release you experience when anticipating or participating in betting still creates a strong biochemical motivation for engaging in harmful behavior–and long-term gambling creates and fortifies maladaptive neural pathways that further damage your ability to control your impulses. Gambling addiction often emerges alongside a co-occurring mental health disorder, which can aggravate the addiction as you gamble to cope with difficult emotions and escape from painful situations. Manic episodes in particular may be tied to gambling sprees, creating barriers to impulse control that need specialized treatment to prevent relapse.
Symptoms of Gambling Addiction include:
- Being unable to stop thinking about gambling and finding opportunities to gamble
- Lying to family, friends, and co-workers to hide your gambling
- Borrowing or stealing money to gamble
- Raising the stakes to get the same thrill
- Gambling to deal with emotional issues
- Not being able to stop gambling when you want to
At Bridges to Recovery, we offer a place of solace and respite from the everyday patterns and triggers that lead to gambling. Through our innovative range of therapies, you can heal from emotional turmoil and take control of your addictive impulses with the guidance of our skilled professionals who have the expertise necessary to treat complex mental health disorders with co-occurring addiction issues. Here, you can begin to gain control of your impulses, rebuild your life, understand the underlying psychological motivations for your gambling, and develop the ability to cope with stressors without resorting to self-destructive behaviors. In a soothing therapeutic milieu, you learn to harness your inner resources to increase self-regulation and repair the damage to your self-esteem, confidence, and interpersonal relationships. We also work with your outpatient care providers to create an aftercare plan that ensures you have the supports you need for continued success after Bridges. With proper treatment, you can recover from both your primary psychological illness and your gambling addiction to live a richer, more satisfying life.
