Gamblers are very narcissistic and while usually bright, given to magical thinking that borders on the delusional. No, not easy to treat successfully.
My whole view of gambling is that it’s extreme speculation. People speculate all the time, or try to give themselves a best projection of a possible outcome. Gambling appears to be a case of speculation taken to an extreme extent. Crossing lines within a normal desire seems tough not to do once you have done it.
Now, we're well on our way to slots on every street corner. A Senior can get on a bus for $1 and be left off at the casino. The money they spend there isn't being spent on the family, at local businesses, to improve their houses. And towns depend on local income taxes for budgets. I'd think the casinos are putting more money with the state and less with the communities, that are already suffering.
How do you treat a person with a gambling problem if the casino is a $1 bus ride away?
Interesting. Had a bf who was an addictions counselor, having cleaned up alcohol and drug probs of his own decades ago. But at the casino, he was an idiot. I actually made money there, and so did he, but his went back into the machines while mine went into my pocket. I couldn't drag him away.
He liked to gamble; I liked to win. Big difference. No way I could get him to stop loosing…maybe loosing is an addiction, which raises lots of psychopossibilities.
No, I haven't been back to the casinos since we stopped seeing each other.