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Aug 13, 2021, 08:04 AM
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Member Since: Dec 2018
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 6,008
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TimTheEnchanter
I have decided to join gamblers Anonymous because if I did not have enough mental or physical health issues it turns out I am also a degenerate gambler.
This year I have lost $60,000 and in my lifetime maybe $250,000 altogether in the forms of Poker, day trading, stock investing, etc.
Recently I am only in the stock market but I had a disastrous year in 2021, 2020 was not much better. I am 65 in December and my retirement account is not even at $100,000. If I live too long I will be truly poor.
The reason I am posting is not to seek sympathy but to draw the connection between bipolar and gambling and how the stock market can be addictive if one trades frequently.
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Quote:
People with bipolar disorder often engage in addictive behaviors. They compulsively shop for things they don't need, engage in frequent and risky sex, or spend long hours at the workplace.
They also are apt to engage in compulsive gambling. People who are bipolar tend toward behaviors that include spending too much money on lottery tickets, spending hours in front of video poker machines, and taking frequent trips to casinos.
Connecting Bipolar Disorder to Gambling
Bipolar disorder causes extreme swings in a person's mood, energy levels, and ability to get things done. It's also known as manic-depressive illness, a name which reflects these swings in mood. Patients can be overexcited and filled with joy and purpose in a manic episode, and then suddenly swing into a depressive episode, becoming sad, joyless, and drained of energy.
Researchers have found that bipolar disorder and gambling addiction often occur together. Half of all gambling addicts in the United States also have a mood disorder, according to one national survey. A Canadian study found that people with bipolar disorder were more than twice as likely to have a gambling addiction as someone in the general population. Another study found that, among those surveyed, a mood disorder preceded gambling addiction in 80 percent of the women and 58 percent of the men.
Bipolar Disorder and Gambling: What Research Suggests
The exact nature of the link between gambling addiction and bipolar disorder has not been fully explained by researchers. Doctors and mental health professionals tend to believe that gambling addiction may be linked to the highs or lows associated with bipolar disorder:
People with depression use gambling to self-medicate. This theory holds that patients use gambling to help themselves feel better during a depressive phase. The rush associated with the risk of gambling may help them rise out of their depressive funk.
Gambling reflects the impulsive nature of a manic phase. People in the grips of a manic phase often have impulse control issues. They may engage in kleptomania or go on an eating binge. Some researchers believe gambling might serve as another outlet for impulsive behavior.
Another possible theory is that compulsive gambling may be an early-onset form of obsessive-compulsive disorder, which people with bipolar disorder experience at an increased rate compared with the general population.
Treating Bipolar Disorder and Gambling
If people with bipolar disorder are self-medicating with gambling, that may mean there is a biochemical process they are subconsciously tapping into to ease their mania or depression. They are using a specific behavior to make themselves feel better because that behavior prompts the body to release hormones or neurotransmitters that naturally treat their mood disorder.
Several studies have shown the potential for bipolar disorder medications to also help people deal with a gambling addiction:
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, are powerful antidepressants. Studies have found that SSRIs can reduce the need to compulsively gamble in some people.
Lithium, an often-used mood-stabilizing medication, also has shown promise as a bipolar disorder drug that treats compulsive gambling. Lithium reduces the impulsiveness associated with manic phases and could stop the addictive gambling that takes place when a patient is in the grip of mania.
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I just wanted to validate your feelings.
__________________
"I carried a watermelon?"
President of the no F's given society.
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