Gambling is becoming more and more popular in today's society as it is gradually becoming more legalized over the United States and other countries. However this may seem to bring no threat to most people, there does exist a disease within gambling that targets a significant number of people and is the result of gambling addiction. Like many other addictions, gambling is one that can lead to a medical disorder known as compulsive gambling or medically known as pathological gambling which has serious effects and can cause a person to eventually become financially ruined, negligent towards his work and most of all his family.
"I would call in sick, usually after a week-end, to stay at the casinos and play-Everyone laughed and called it the 'Atlantic City Flu'-By the time my employer confronted me about the missing petty cash and altered client accounts, I had gambled and lost over $500,000 of embezzled funds."(Zehr,
gambling
gamble_house
gamble_porch2004). These are the words of a patient who suffered from serious compulsive gambling and was left financially bankrupt and in serious debt. This was his testimonial after being treated at the Illinois Institute for Addiction Recovery. It is now all clear to him-after having recovered-the damage he has caused to himself and the seriousness of pathological gambling. This is only one example of the thousands of people that lie in the same situation of the newly recovered patient. Compulsive gamblers tend to start off by borrowing money from co-workers, asking for advances in salary and requesting loans; soon before they know it they are broke and sinking in debt.
Financial ruin is only the beginning of a series of events in a gambler addict's life. Soon comes the terrible effect on their work. The addiction seems to never leave their minds. They begin to integrate gambling...