Published by Programme B
Some find it fun to place a couple of bets on their favorite slots in the evening and spend less than an hour on it daily. However, others start spending too much time on gambling, constantly looking for a suitable TonyBet Bonus code for more promotions. Such behavior leads to an addiction. Here’s how to avoid, determine, and fight it.
Signs of Addiction
Often hobbies in virtual reality unnoticed by the person himself or his environment grow into an addiction. Hours spent in a computer or smartphone have a detrimental effect on the human psyche. And if some people can easily switch to the real world, others fall into dependence on technological gadgets and can not cope with it. Addiction to games is not always a pathology, it may be a hobby of a person that allows him to relax, distract from the problems and enjoy the exciting process.
How to Distinguish an Addiction From a Hobby
Games on the computer are not harmful – they develop attention, logical and strategic thinking, and reaction. But you need to be able to distinguish between hobby games and addiction to them. There are several signs when a hobby turns into a serious problem for a person addicted to virtual games. Addiction can be determined by the following characteristic signs of behavior gamer:
- He stops controlling the time spent playing the game.
- He cannot distract from the gameplay.
- He sacrifices personal, work, study time for the sake of the game.
- As a result, he spoils relations with peers, which leads to conflicts with them.
Causes of Addiction
Addiction occurs in people with an agile psyche, prone to various kinds of deviations from the norm. Each patient has a different history of the disease, but all addicts track the main causes of the pathological mania to the games.
The cause of the disease is almost always the desire to get away from solving problems, to avoid reality. Game addiction is a consequence of severe stress or deeply hidden fear of reality. Psychologists distinguish the main factors:
- Personality peculiarities – individual psychological and emotional factors, character traits, expressed in the instability of the psyche, inability to establish relationships with others, lack of self-control skills, pessimistic views of real life, dissatisfaction, the desire to be free of any responsibility.
- Mental disorders, such as anxiety, phobias, a tendency to depressive states, cause a person’s desire to hide in the virtual world from the frightening society. Games for such patients are a way of protection, creating a safe zone.
- Hormonal imbalance disorders – the lack of dopamine, which is responsible for the pleasure center, makes a person look for bright emotions, experiencing thrills as an additional stimulus.
Consequences of Addiction
The disease affects all aspects of life. The consequences of gambling addiction can be devastating to the patient’s personality, health and social environment. Specialists identify three main areas that are most susceptible to change due to pathological cravings for games.
Physiological:
- Loss of appetite and sleep patterns.
- Headaches, blood pressure spikes.
- Vegetative dysfunction.
- Gastrointestinal problems.
- Deterioration of memory, concentration, attention.
Psychological:
- Dulling of emotions.
- Prolonged depression.
- Fatalism in judgment.
Social:
- Indifference to work and study.
- Disorientation in current events and news.
- Disruption of friendly and family ties.
- Aggression towards relatives trying to cure a game addiction.
How to Get Rid of Game Addiction
A person must be aware that the problem has appeared. The effectiveness of treatment of gambling addiction in the early stages of the disease will depend on the desire of the player himself. But even at the initial stage of the disease, it is better to contact a specialist who will help make a plan of treatment and rehabilitation.
Specialists advise a systematic approach to getting rid of gaming addiction. Treatment should be carried out in several stages:
- Set a limit of 2-3 hours per day with subsequent reduction, designate time for games.
- Remove all visual paraphernalia from the room, get rid of items of clothing, accessories associated with the game.
- Replace the released time for active activities – walks, sports, hunting, or fishing.
- Enlist the support of loved ones.
- Devise a system of punishments and rewards – for breaking the time limit pushing up or memorizing foreign words, for compliance with the established rules – a bar of chocolate, watching a movie, etc.
Game Addiction Treatment
The diagnosis and treatment of gambling addiction in adults is complicated by the patient’s refusal to recognize and accept the existence of his disease. Any gambling addict can cite 1,000s of evidence that they do not have a gambling addiction.
Gambling addiction treatment is a complex of measures including psychological impact, psychotherapeutic treatment and, if necessary, medication correction of behavior.
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