GAMBLING TILT PART 3

PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORY OF GAMBLING TILT

Unlike the social theory of gambling tilts, psychodynamic theory of gambling tilt has the framework of traditional research. In the field of psychiatry in modern medicine, Sigmund Freud is considered to be the father of psychodynamics. General psychodynamics, also known as dynamic psychology studies the psychological forces that underlie human behaviour, especially the dynamic relations between conscious motivation and unconscious motivation.

According to Sigmund Freud, psychodynamics focuses on the emotional states in the id, ego, and superego. These three emotional states have got something to do with your early childhood psycho-developmental processes. Ego is the core of the psychological processes. And ego has to be at war with three forces: the id, the super-ego, and the outside world.

So, your ego is constantly at war with your id, super-ego and the outside world. Outside world refers to the social environment which includes the casino as well as your family, close friends and work colleagues.

Psychodynamics was founded by Sigmund Freud and developed further by Carl Jung, Alfred Adler and Melanie Klein. In the 1950s, American psychiatrist Eric Berne built on Sigmund Freud’s psychodynamic model to develop a psychology of human interactions called transactional analysis. According to physician James R. Allen, “cognitive behavioral therapy” that modern medicine know today is actually derived from transactional analysis . This theory was popularized in the 1964 book Games People Play, a book that sold five million copies.

Cognitive behaviour therapy is the bread and butter of practising psychiatrists in modern medicine throughout the world. This therapy is used extensively to treat and rehabilitate compulsive gamblers throughout the world.

Carl Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist is an eminent follower of Sigmund Freud’s work. Carl Jung’s contributions in psychodynamic psychology include two specific areas–psyche wholeness and its spiritual dimension. Carl Jung introduced the theory that the psyche tends toward wholeness. The self is composed of the ego, the personal unconscious and the collective unconscious. The collective unconscious contains the archetypes which manifest in ways peculiar to each individual.

Carl Jung’s psychodynamic psychology also recognizes the spiritual dimension of the human psyche. In existential theories, the consensus among psychologists is that human mind is not capable of deciphering the meaning of life. This is not the same as saying that there is no meaning in life.

In individuals of healthy mind, their ego always move in the direction of psychic wholeness. In other words, this implies that healthy human mind is not capable of handling negative emotions.

The terms pychologists use to describe various elements can be confusing. For simplicity as a layman you can assume psyche to mean human mind, self to mean individuals, id to mean instinct, ego to mean personality, and superego to mean belief system.

During my medical practice, this is how I screen the state of my patient’s mental health. I always ask them whether they have a happy or unhappy childhood. A normal healthy mind should always have a happy childhood even though they may not actually have a happy childhood. The reason is your healthy mind filters off the unhappy childhood experiences without your knowlegde and left behind only beautiful memories of happy childhood.

Conversely, if the patient says his childhood is very unhappy, this also means that his ego has failed to move towards wholeness. Therefore, the patient has a distorted psyche and must now be harbouring some psychiatric disorder that probably need intervention.

This concept has important implications in gambling tilt. By nature, human mind cannot handle negative emotion, unhappy childhood and ……..gambling losses. Unhappy childhood if unresolved leads to distorted psyche. Similarly, gambling losses lead to gambling tilt including chasing of losses. Is it difficult to handle gambling tilt? Once you understand that gambling put you in unnatural environment, with potentials for hazards, you would be able to take sufficient precautions to survive in gambling.

But all this comes at a cost. The psychodynamics of gambling tilt is not easy to understand. All gamblers suffer from tilt. For a minority of individuals, gambling is an evolving habit until the breaking point, the last straw that breaks the camel’s back. Problem gambling and compulsive gambling is a recognized psychiatric disorder found in about 1% of the population. These prevalence rates are higher in local communities around casinos and clubs with gambling facilities.

In essence, gambling is a rather complex behaviour because it is widely known that the house always win. Whether you are gambling on slot machines, race-track, blackjack, baccarat or roulette, the odds would have been calculated to ensure a steady return for the casino owner or bookmaker. The owners of gambling establishments achieve this at the expense of expected losses suffered by the gamblers. So why do gamblers, in particular problem gamblers, continue to play when they are likely to lose money?

Dr Luke Clark, in the Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge studied gamblers’ belief system that they can find ways to increase their chances of winning, including the effects of near-misses and personal preference. These belief systems promote an ‘illusion of control’: the belief that the gambler can control variance over an outcome that is actually random. For example, the gambler may belief that holy grail can finally be found.

Both near-misses and the gamblers’ personal preference cause gamblers to play longer and bet higher. Over time, these flawed belief system may trigger ‘loss chasing’, when gamblers attempt to recoup escalating losses. Near-misses occur when the outcome is close to the jackpot, but there is no actual win. Near-misses are common in many forms of gambling as well as other entertainment games. A moderate frequency of near-misses encourages prolonged gambling even among recreational gamblers. Problem gamblers often interpret near-misses as evidence that they are mastering the game and that a win is on the way.

Personal preference is a further determinant of illusory control, referring to situations where the gambler has some choice in playing their game. For instance, roulette players may place higher bets if they can throw the ball onto the roulette wheel themselves, as against the croupier who throws the ball for them. Face-down baccarat gamblers may prefer the same winning gambler to open cards. Preference appears to encourage a belief that the game involves skill and mask the fact that the outcome is actually random.

The psychology behind continuing to gamble even after repeated losses comes from the view of intermittent reward. If the continuous rewards are followed by a long period of no reward, the gamblers’ behaviour will expire since the gamblers learn that the rewards will no longer be provided. If the reward is provided intermittently, that is, sometimes the gambler gets it and sometimes he doesn’t, the gambling behaviour may perpectuate for a longer duration even after an prolonged period with no reward, because the gambler never knows if another reward is coming. In fact, this is the psychology of gambling. When you play online slots games, for instance, you never know when that next big win might come and it’s therefore sometimes difficult to quit.

The behaviour of chasing of losses is commonly seen in the casino environment. If you have friends or relation who gamble, you may have seen them demonstrating cravings and symptoms of withdrawal when you try to stop them from gambling especially when they are losing money. It has been said that self-control is very important in gambling. But what is self-control? Self control means no gambling tilt. So, the psychodynamic theory is your answer. The predisposing factors for gambling tilts are your flawed belief system. The precipitating factors or triggers for gambling tilts are all sorts of near-misses, as well as situations induced by casino rewards and casino counter-measures.

These subtle features of gambling, like near-misses and other flawed belief systems contribute to the psychodynamics of problem and compulsive gambling. Legislators and social gambling promotors need to understand these gambling features so that future changes in gambling legislation enacted to promote responsible gambling may well be in a better position to protect vulnerable individuals and society at large.

So, now you can use psychodynamic theory as a tool to handle gambling tilt. For simplicity and with reference to gambling tilt, I would like to simplify this concept. Just consider id as your inborn instinct, ego as your personality and superego as your belief system and outside world as your environment including the casino environment. This analogy is not exactly correct but you can fine tune them after you have got the big picture right.

You are encouraged to read this post twice to get the big picture.

My next post will discuss practical methods to handle or avoid gambling tilt.

If you would like to read further, this book is strongly recommended:

The Psychodynamics and Psychology of Gambling is the first volume in the four-volume The Gambling Theory and Research Series. Author Mikal Aasved felt a need to fill what he perceived to be a lack of background sources or reviews of literature pertaining to gambling theory and research. This series will present major findings of leading researchers as they study the causes and effects of gambling, both recreational and excessive. This first entry in the series reviews the most influential psychodynamic and psychological theories that explain why people gamble. Psychoanalytical theorists discussed include Freud, Von Hattingberg, Fenichel, Bergler, Simmel, Greenson, Stekel, and others. Aasved includes sections on behavioral (learning or reinforcement theory) psychological approaches to gambling with discussion of SkinnerÂ’s ideas and research findings as well as PavlovÂ’s principles. This book begins with the question “Why do people gamble?” and offers many theories proposed by clinicians, laboratory and field researchers, and participants as they seek to explain the motivation behind gambling. The differences between gambling as entertainment and gambling compulsion is a focus of much research. Aasved addresses ideas set forth as to why some people are able to control their gambling and others cannot, even when it means sacrificing their jobs, family, and material possessions. This text provides a comprehensive background into theories of addiction research as studied by leaders in the field.

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