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Addiction of a different kind – case study |
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Medicare has increased access to psychology for patients who otherwise may not be able to afford it. It has also increased the variety of presenting cases. When we think of addictions, alcohol or drugs often spring to mind. But, addictions can include any behaviour that is carried out to excess.
Jeremy is a 49 year old man who presented to therapy after a relationship break-up. Jeremy’s fiancé left him after discovering how much money he had spent gambling over the past year. Jeremy had gambled as long as she had known him, but she had no idea the size of bets he was making, or the size of the losses that were accumulating.Jeremy explained that he had always been fascinated by the track, and had become pretty good at reading the form for races. He had also made connections with people who have provided “hot” tips. During the last year, some of his tips hadn’t been so hot, and he explained that he was just having a bit of bad luck picking form. Jeremy was suffering from a classic case of gambler’s fallacy. This can take a few different forms. The most obvious is that Jeremy believed that racing was about skill rather than luck, and that if he worked hard enough at picking winners he’d eventually get his form back. This kind of belief is especially risky for people who choose a gaming option where skill plays a small part (unlike roulette, where most people can accept chance is king). The second part of gambler’s fallacy is that luck is evenly distributed, and if you have enough bad luck, good luck must be coming your way. Jeremy genuinely believed that he was on the edge of a ‘hot streak’, which would recoup his losses, and put him in the black.Treatment was very challenging for Jeremy, as letting go of his belief that he was about to have a large win also meant facing up to just how much money he had lost. Most rational people are willing to go into short term debt to make long term gain (look at our mortgages).
But facing up to serious debt without anything to show for it, or any tangible asset is a painful process.It was also helpful for Jeremy to recognise the paradox in his thinking; “gambling isn’t a matter of chance because of my skills”, “gambling must be about chance if I’m due a lucky break soon”. By facing up to this contradiction, Jeremy was able to recognise that his whole way of thinking about gambling was less than rational.An important part of any addiction treatment is relapse prevention, and Jeremy and I worked together to discover when he was most at risk of gambling, and developed strategies to reduce his likelihood of going back to his old habits.Unfortunately, despite treatment, Jeremy was unable to reconcile with his fiancé. He is still in a risky financial situation. However, he is slowly returning to a point of solvency. For more information about any type of case, please contact us at Morningside on 3395 8633 or Newmarket on 3356 8455.
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