Non-Chemical addiction

Non-Chemical addiction

"In non-chemical addiction person develop bad habits which become compulsion for him like gambling, over eating, over indulgence in sex and in these days internet addiction and pornography."

Types of non-chemical addiction

There are some types of non-chemical addiction.

• Gambling addiction
• Over eating
• Over indulgence in sex
• Internet addiction
• Pornography

Gambling

People start gambling for fun but as time passes it become compulsive behaviour for some people. They can not stop themselves from gambling and it become gambling addiction at this stage. Gambling not only destroy the health of an addict but also badly effect the person's financial, social, recreational, educational or occupational functioning. Addict spend their most of time in gambling and do not care about their family, friends and profession. They also show some anti-social behaviours like stealing, telling a lie etc.
Gambling addiction, is much like some forms of chemical addiction, is associated with the release of dopamine  in the brain as much as 10 times more than what is normal. This increased amount of dopamine  send message to the neurotransmitters to relax the body.  At certain stage addicts's body develop tolerance and he has to increase the time and money of gambling. If a person try to stop himself from gambling or decreases the time of gambling his body show some withdrawal symptoms.
Some psychological disorders are also associated with gambling addiction like depression, anxiety, stress, substance abuse, bipolar disorder, Un managed  ADHD.

Sings and Symptoms

According to DSM-5 there are some signs and symptoms of gambling that are described below.

• A need to spend more and more money in order to get the gambling rush that a person seeks from experience. 
• Restlessness, anxiety or irritability when a person try to decreases the amount spent on gambling or to stop gambling altogether.
• Many attempts have been made to give up gambling, but have been unsuccessful.
• Constant thoughts of gambling including when the next tour, or continuous reminiscing  about previous gambling excrusions.
• A person is triggered more habitually when experiencing negative mental and emotional states.
• A person must gamble the next day loss, either in the hopes of recovering losses or to break even with the system.
• A person lies about where he is going and how much he have spent in gambling.   
• Relationship with friends and family have been damaged, or educational and professional statuses have been negatively impacted by gambling.
• A person constantly requests money from others in order to pay bills that have been ignored so that he could gamble again.                                                      

Treatment

Gambling can treated through some therapeutic techniques. There are some techniques that are used for the treatment of gambling.

• Medication
• Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
• Self help group

Medication

 Naltrexone, is an opioid that is used for the treatment of gambling. It balance the level of dopamine and inhibit the excessive secretion of dopamine that is directly associated with gambling behaviour.

Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy

Gambling can also be treated through Cognitive-Behavioural therapy in which counselor find out underlying issues of addict that are the main cause of gambling and try to resolve that issues. In CBT counselor changes the irrational obsessive thoughts that leads to irrational compulsive behaviour of gambling. It ultimately reduces the craving of gambling.

Self help group

Gambling can also be treated by self help group in which person find out coping strategies or communicate with other people  about their problem is also very helpful technique.