Steps from the Green Line
Compulsive Gambling Help in Boston
Gambling on its own doesn’t necessarily mean you need help. Placing a bet on your favorite team every once in a while if you know you can afford to lose – that bet is perfectly acceptable.
However, if you find yourself constantly gambling, chasing losses, or worse, putting yourself into risky financial situations because of your gambling, then you may have a compulsive gambling problem.
Compulsive gambling can happen to anyone. You could be a university student who has just been allowed to gamble and fall too deep. You could be a professional who uses gambling to distract themselves from their stress.
Regardless of whether you have a problem gambling on its own or you use gambling to distract yourself, we can help. We can help you stop gambling and stick with your new resolution.
All you need to stop your maladaptive gambling behavior is to get in touch with our team. We’ll use a comprehensive collection of treatments and therapies to help you quit, understand why you became a compulsive gambler in the first place, and prevent relapse.
What is a Gambling Disorder?
A gambling disorder means that you have a disordered relationship with money gambling – or any gambling. Typically, you will be diagnosed with gambling if:
- You constantly think about gambling either in the past or the gambling you’ll do in the future.
- You increasingly gamble with higher stakes to get the desired excitement from your gambling.
- You are restless or irritable when you try to stop gambling on your own.
- You chase your losses if you’re losing money gambling.
- You constantly lie about your excessive gambling.
A gambling disorder is different from substance misuse. If you get addicted to opioids or even to medication, then you are addicted chemically as well as physically and mentally. This chemical addiction means if you have also turned to substance use and cannot quit, then you may need to go to an inpatient facility or hospital for a medical detox. Even if substance misuse is a part of your routine, we can help you with our clinic in Boston, MA, to stop gambling and get a handle on your gambling problem once and for all.
Who is at Risk of Developing a Gambling Disorder?
While anyone at any age can develop a gambling disorder, some are at increased risk of developing a gambling addiction. While we won’t only look for these risk factors when diagnosing your gambling disorder, we will look for the following:
Genetic Factors
Some studies have indicated that certain genetic factors influence gambling disorders. One of the most significant indicators is whether you are male or female, as men overwhelmingly experience gambling disorders more often than women do.
Age Group
Young adults and teens are two of the demographics more likely to have a compulsive gambling problem. However, this doesn’t mean it cannot happen throughout the general population at any age.
Comorbid Disorders
Those with bipolar disorder, mood disorders, or personality disorders are actually at a higher risk of developing gambling disorders. If you do have a comorbid disorder (meaning you have more than just your gambling disorder diagnosed when you come to us), we’ll treat both your gambling addiction and your mental health condition.
Environmental Factors
Environmental factors can also cause repeated and ongoing betting. For example, if you are in an abusive environment, you may use gambling as a crutch.
How to Know You Have a Problem Gambling
The “high” you experience when gambling can be very addictive. It can also cause you to lose more money than you planned when you started gambling.
Not only that, but gambling institutions design their facilities so that you gamble more – even if they have signs and warnings about the risks of a gambling disorder.
Casinos, for example, don’t have windows, are hard to navigate to the exits, and use flashing lights and other tactics to draw your attention to their many different in-house offerings.
Of course, you don’t need to physically go anywhere to develop a compulsive gambling disorder, thanks to online casinos and sportsbooks. This access means you could be a university student and still have full access to sports and casino betting without ever leaving your campus dorm room.
Yes, online sportsbooks let you put in limits (loss limits, bet limits, etc). However, these don’t always stop you from having a gambling problem.
If your gambling is taking over a significant portion of your focus, and if you have gone into debt or risky financial situations to keep your gambling habit going, then you need to stop. We can help you stop gambling and build up the coping skills necessary to stay away from your behavioral addiction in the future, too.
What's Back Bay Mental Health's Gambling Addiction Treatment Include?
If you cannot stop gambling on your own, then come to us, where you’ll have access to a mental health professional, group counselors, and holistic health experts.
The first step we’ll take is to evaluate your condition and needs. You may assume your only problem is compulsive gambling, but your gambling addiction may just be a symptom of something larger.
For example, you may have turned to gambling as a way to avoid triggers. If you have a mood disorder, for example, then you may use gambling as a way to immediately feel more alive if you are in a depressive state. Similarly, you may turn to compulsive gambling if you are experiencing mania, as gambling addiction can play into what your brain seeks out while in a manic state.
The good news is that it doesn’t matter why you have a problem gambling. We can help. With us, you’ll have access to an addiction counselor and a mental health professional who can help you if you also have one of the aforementioned psychiatric disorders.
How We Treat Gambling Disorders
Here at Back Bay Mental Health, we treat behavioral addictions with a comprehensive collection of treatments designed to help you mentally, physically, and emotionally. With us, you’ll get:
Individual Therapy
We’ll use a range of behavioral therapies to help you understand the triggers that lead you to problem gambling. For example, if you turn to gambling instead of dealing with your project deadline or exam, we can help you avoid turning to your gambling addiction to relieve that stress.
We may use behavioral therapy methods like cognitive behavioral therapy or psychodynamic therapy in a one-on-one setting to help you overcome your addiction. Suppose you aren’t yet motivated to progress in your therapy sessions. In that case, we may use talk therapy, known as motivational interviewing, which works to help you build up momentum and motivation to see your addiction recovery through.
Group Therapy
We’ll also use group therapy to help you connect with others who share your mental health problems with gambling. Gamblers Anonymous, for example, allows those with a problem gambling to share their struggles with others who understand while also drawing from the group’s collective commitment to quitting addiction. Support groups help you avoid isolation, maintain recovery progress, and are excellent for relapse prevention.
Family Therapy
On top of self-help groups and support groups, we may also include family therapy as part of your personalized treatment regimen. Many may turn to gambling because they cannot handle stress at home, for instance, when dealing with a certain family member. We can help you address those problems directly (working with said family member) or indirectly by helping you make steps towards setting boundaries and removing yourself from those triggers.
Do You Qualify for Treatment for Gambling Addiction
If you have gambling problems and need help stopping, then we can help. Our work is constructive for those who have tried self-help groups or quit their gambling behaviors on their own and have thus far been unsuccessful.
Unsuccessful efforts are not a waste; they can help us build a better, more targeted treatment plan for you. These treatment options can help you gain control over your addiction, whether that’s just gambling or also involves substance use.
We start every new patient with a complete evaluation. We’ll use your medical history, personal history, and testimony during this evaluation to create your personalized treatment plan.
Gambling behaviors often stem from some other trigger in an individual’s life. That’s why we need to understand what made you start gambling, whether you have money problems, and what other personality traits and disorders may be impacting your behavior.
You’ll qualify for gambling disorder treatment if you gamble often, cannot stop on your own, and if your gambling addiction has resulted in you zeroing out your account, or if you’ve had to borrow money just to gamble because you lose control whenever you can place a bet.
Why Choose Back Bay Mental Health if You Have a Compulsive Gambling Disorder
If you have a gambling disorder or similar mental health concern, we can help. With us, you’ll have access to a mental health professional, gambling counselors, and so much more. All that you need to start getting a handle on your gambling disorder is to get in touch with our team, so contact us today.