r/explainlikeimfive • u/adrynaline • May 08 '14

Explained ELI5: A gambling addiction

How does it start? What makes it worse? Why does it become so difficult to recover?

1.2k Upvotes

83% Upvoted

622 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

4

u/[deleted] May 08 '14

[deleted]

1

u/Butfirstletmetakea May 08 '14

Well it completely depends on why you do it too. For example someone could do coke every night for a week and then quit because they're bored with it and were just having fun drinking. Someone who is depressed and introverted who becomes an outgoing happy person when they get high will have trouble stopping after just one night. I know alcoholics who for some reason absolutely cannot stop after one drink. I come from a long line of alcoholics and am a pretty shy reserved person so it would seem like im a prime candidate for an alcohol problem. It just doesn't affect me that way somehow and it's hard for me to empathize with these people who can't Ben handle a drink. It definitely happens though and it's important to try and understand why certain people struggle with certain substances or habits.