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中文Challenge Status Quo of Gambling Addiction
What is addiction? Why do we get addicted? Is there perhaps more to it than you previously thought? Have you considered the possibility that quitting is difficult because the addiction is doing something for you?
- What if gambling isn’t addictive?
- What is the secret of the cage?
- What is the Happiness Test?
What happens if…
- …gambling addiction isn’t an illness?
- …heroin isn’t addictive?
- …a happy person is more resistant to addiction?
WHAT WOULD THAT MEAN TO YOU?
How can we help you?
The typical view of addiction is that we get hooked on a substance, and then we crave it all the time. Can you relate to that? Where is that view coming from?
It’s time to challenge how you view addiction. This article could be perceived as challenging, and some might find it offensive. Its purpose is not to offend but rather to give you a new perspective on addiction and how you can get rid of it!
Give us 10 minutes, and we will tell you all about the Secret of the Cage.
What is The Secret of The Cage?
During the 1950s, scientists experimented on mice. They placed each mouse in a shoebox-sized cage. Then the mouse had two choices of water. One bottle had fresh, clean water. The other bottle contained water spiked with heroin.
In a few days, all mice preferred the spiked water. Soon enough, the mice stopped eating and were constantly intoxicated. As a result, all mice died either from starvation or overdose.
The researchers concluded that heroin is highly addictive. So addictive that the mice lost all will to do anything but be high.
During the worst days of the Vietnam War, 100,000s American soldiers used heroin to cope with all the horrors. The authorities feared that the American streets would be crowded with heroin addicts once the soldiers returned home.
But that didn’t happen!
Upon arrival on US soil, 95% of the soldiers stopped using heroin, as if they had never used it at all. They for sure suffered terrifying nightmares, but they never touched heroin again.
How could they just stop?
Did you know that when someone, for example, your grandmother, breaks their leg and is hospitalized, they will be injected with pure heroin? It’s true; heroin is commonly used as a painkiller. However, you might know it better under a different name: MORPHINE.
If anyone is treated with morphine for three weeks, they should, by all logic, become addicted. But most won’t be. Why is that?
THERE’S SOMETHING NOT QUITE RIGHT HERE…
Professor Bruce Alexander at Vancouver University had the same thoughts back in the 1970s.
Perhaps it’s not the drug that’s the problem. Maybe it’s the cage… Imagine that you’re forced into an extremely tight space, alone. You have nothing to do except choose to drink regular water or something else that makes you feel like you have wings!
Which water would you choose?
Professor Bruce Alexander redesigned the experiment. He created a rat park. Just like in any mouse-heaven, there was a lot of cheese, running wheels, toys, and other mice to play with. He then presented the mice with the same two options of water.
Now, something peculiar happened! None of the mice preferred the spiked water. Sure, they might have taken an occasional sip or two, but none of them showed any symptoms of addiction. None of them died. The change in cage and surroundings cut the death rate from 100% to 0%!
Bruce Alexander concluded that it’s not heroin that is addictive. The cage made the mice use it to escape their mundane reality.
What does your cage look like? In a minute, we’ll help you find out. Before we get that far, though, let’s visit a country almost as cheese-crazy as the craziest mouse – Switzerland!
In the 1990s, Switzerland had huge problems with heroin addiction. The government chose to legalize heroin and opened clinics where the addicts could get free, clean heroin to counteract the problem. (The good stuff, not some crap they would find on the street.)
Each person could determine their daily dose. After the heroin dose in the morning, each addict went to work. And this is one of the keys! In addition to pure heroin, the addicts got somewhere to live and a job!
Again, something peculiar happened! Most of the addicts started to lower their doses. Many quit completely. The deaths from overdose dropped to almost zero!
By not shaming the addicts but rather creating new meaning in their lives, the demand for heroin almost disappeared. To be sober suddenly felt more tempting than being intoxicated did.
Consider this: a cage might not be similar to a tiny shoebox, and the bars might be invisible… What does your cage look like?
The Happiness Test: Identify Your Cage
We won’t do an ordinary gambling addiction test. The result of that you’d already know… Instead, we will do something completely different. We want to identify “your cage” and inspire you to think about why you’ve become addicted to gambling. Remember, we don’t believe that gambling is the real problem; it’s simply a symptom.
To help you, we’ve created a unique test. We call it the Happiness Test. By looking at how well your needs in life are met, we can understand how at-risk you are of developing an addiction.
The Happiness Test aims to:
- Make you think about your quality of life and addiction.
- Help you identify the cage you live your life in.
- Be the foundation for your development plan to quit gambling.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Our motivation is strongly connected to our needs. If you’re swimming and suddenly find yourself underwater, your first thought is not how people will perceive you in the water… I NEED TO GET AIR!
According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, all humans have 5 levels of needs. There are some individual deviations, but in general, we have the following:
Our physiological needs are essential for our survival. Without air, a human will die within a few minutes. Similarly, it’s more important to have peace than to fulfill our social needs.
For a family fleeing a war, survival is the prime incentive. In the moment of flight, safety is more important than the feeling of belonging to people around them.
The first three levels of needs are related to survival. They are central needs that have made humans endure. Belonging to a group was vital when we lived on the African savanna 50,000 years ago. To be left out meant certain death. Our ability to collaborate is the main reason we have survived.
Now, for the first time in history, humans can live alone. However, it doesn’t mean that we mentally enjoy it. We will not feel good if we don’t satisfy our social needs. This is something we will work on here at quitgamble.com.
Have you ever heard of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation? If you play the piano every day because you love playing to yourself, you have an intrinsic motivation to play the piano. If you’re a concert pianist and have to practice for a performance, it’s probably extrinsic motivation that drives you.
Simply put, intrinsic motivation is the things you do for yourself. Extrinsic motivation is the things you do to get others to like you. Making money is often driven by extrinsic motivation; the same goes for status and power. Many studies, however, shows we rarely get happier by extrinsic motivation.
On the other hand, if we do things for others (without personal gain), or we do things because we love them (intrinsic motivation), we feel good and get happier.
Why are we telling you all of this? Sure, it’s interesting, but what’s the point?
Our unique test links your satisfied needs and happiness. The Happiness Test will not tell you if you’re addicted to anything. It will, however, indicate if you’re at risk of being or becoming addicted.
At the same time, the ‘Happiness Test’ is a tool to pinpoint from what end we should start helping you. By identifying your cage, we can give you the support you need to satisfy your current needs.
What help is available?
- You can read these free guides and the videos
- Take our 12-week Stop Gambling Video Program.
- Join our Online Community where you can chat and make new friends.
- You can share your stories and read other people’s stories.
- You’ll get tips on talking to and communicating with people around you.
- You’ll get inspiring and supportive emails with tips for moving forward.
We’ll challenge you to challenge yourself.
And we’ll do everything we can to support you on your journey!
How can we help you?
Gambling Addiction is Not an Illness
Before we present the next powerful tool, we’d like to go back to the initial assertion: What if gambling addiction is not an illness?
By labeling gambling addiction an illness, we make the addict a victim. More importantly, it makes them feel powerless! Furthermore, the label of “being sick” also strips away personal responsibility.
We don’t want to create any victims because you are not a victim! You alone have the deciding power over yourself and your actions. It means you can take action to improve your situation.
Gambling addiction is not a sickness, but like the rehabilitation of a broken leg, you should avoid leaning on it until it’s healed. In your case, it means you need to stay away from gambling. While you recuperate, you can lean on the quitgamble.com community. We’ll do our best to support you, for as long as you can heal properly.
Congratulations! You have just taken the first step on a life journey where you’re in the driver’s seat!
Clinically Reviewed By: Anders Bergman
Clinically Reviewed By: Dr Jane Oakes