Gambling is an activity in which people place bets on a number of events, such as football matches or scratch cards. This is usually done for money, although it can also be done without any money at all. It is based on chance and can be a problem for some people.
Getting involved with gambling may lead to problems for a person or a family. It can cause mental health issues, financial problems and other problems. It can also be a crime. It can be a serious addiction and if you are convicted of gambling you could face jail time or a fine. In addition, you might have to take part in a rehabilitation program or counseling for your problem.
A common approach to treating gambling disorders is cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). This can help you stop betting and change your beliefs about gambling. CBT can also help you understand the problems gambling causes and help you solve them. Counseling can also be useful for families.
Problem gambling is a condition that can be diagnosed by your doctor, and it can be treated with psychotherapy or medications. It can also be treated with support from your friends and family. Depending on your specific situation, counseling may include:
The Definition of Harm
The term harm is used to describe the negative consequences of behaviours, including gambling. However, this definition is not stable and is subject to varying interpretations across disciplines. This can result in a lack of coherence between research, treatment and public health approaches to gambling related harms.
This is because gambling related harms are rarely isolated to the behaviour of gambling, rather they can be generated or exacerbated by a range of other harmful behaviours and reduced health states. Consequently, it is not possible to define gambling related harms in isolation from other factors such as alcohol abuse or depression.
There is an ongoing need for a consistent definition of gambling related harm that is capable of being operationalised to support the measurement of this behaviour in terms of standard epidemiological protocols. Furthermore, it is important that the scope of this concept is realised in order to capture the breadth of harms experienced by the person who gambles, affected others and their communities.
It is a challenge to conceptualise gambling related harms because they are so broad, subjective and socially constructed. This is a consequence of the complexity associated with these concepts, and their inter-relationships with other social and environmental determinants.
Therefore, the purpose of this study was to develop an alternative conceptual framework and taxonomy that would capture this wider range of experiences of harms. This was achieved by conducting semi-structured interviews with participants who had identified that they had experienced harm from either their own or someone else’s gambling.
This was followed by focus groups with people who had been involved in the gambling, and/or had affected others with their own gambling. These were conducted both in person and via telephone. The results of the focus groups and interviews were analysed in order to produce the final taxonomy. The taxonomy consists of twenty-six harms.