By: Ivan Sawchuk
Although gambling can be a way to make some money or be an activity you do with friends, it can cause many mental health impacts. This article will touch on how gambling causes anxiety, depression, addiction and how people can overcome these mental health challenges.
Anxiety can be one of the first signs of mental health impacts through gambling. Many people resort to gambling as a way to relax and as a way to escape their everyday life. This constant thought of placing a bet can eventually cause gambling to work into their everyday life, resulting in more anxiety affecting the mental health of the gambler and the people around them. The urge to gamble can start to overwhelm the rest of their life and ultimately lead to addiction and depression.
Like a drug gambling can be an escape for people to feel good. The feel good neurotransmitter in the brain called dopamine is released when you win making you feel really good about yourself and happy. The thing is that, once that initial rush of dopamine is over you feel down and sad almost like you need that rush again and the only way to get that rush again is to gamble, resulting in a constant cycle leading to addiction. This addiction can start leading to signs of depression such as losing money more often and ruining personal relationships.
Overcoming addiction and/or depression from gambling is never an easy task, but there are some strategies to help make it easier. Knowing why you gamble and how you feel while gambling can give a better understanding of the addiction and a way to stop. There’s always social support groups and doctors to help as well if the addiction or depression gets really bad.
In conclusion, as fun as gambling can be there unfortunately some downsides to it that doesn’t just involve you losing money. These mental health impacts can end up being pretty serious if not treated right.
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