Ep. 74 - Gambling Urges: What’s Going on in the Brain
“When gambling becomes a problem, your brain is highly sensitive to reminders of gambling which can spark an urge to gamble.
However, there are many strategies you can use to ride through and decrease urges.”
When you gamble, it affects your brain and body. It’s common to experience an urge to gamble. This involves thinking a lot about gambling or winning, having a strong desire to gamble, and feeling restless, anxious, excited, and/or irritable.*
Urges can be mild or strong. Sometimes they can feel really uncomfortable and you want to gamble just to get relief from the feeling.
Urges can also continue after you stop gambling. Sometimes you’re aware of what triggers an urge. Sometimes they seem to come out of the blue.
In this episode of Fold em, we return again to the topic of urges. This time with a focus on what the brain research tells us about urges and how to handle them. I’m joined again by Dr. Iris Balodis from the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences at McMaster University and Deirdre Querney, MSW, a counsellor specializing in gambling problems for the past twenty three years. Together, they created BrainConnections - an online resource about gambling addiction and the brain.
Why is it helpful to learn about urges?
For those who gamble, understanding urges and what to do about them can help you feel more in control. If you’ve stopped gambling, learning about urges can help prevent a relapse and stay on track with your treatment. It may also ease any guilt and confusion you feel about having a desire to gamble after it has caused so much devastation in your life. For spouses and family members impacted by a loved one’s gambling, learning about urges may help make sense of why gambling got so out of hand.
Listen to episode 74 and hear about:
How to recognize your triggers and urges
What’s going on in the brain with gambling urges
What to THINK and DO when you are experiencing urges to gamble
Listen to episode 74
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How Do I Know if I’m Having an Urge to Gamble?
In this episode of Fold em, Deirdre Querney tells us that urges can feel different from person to person. But some common experiences are:
Thinking a lot about gambling or winning
Feeling like you can’t sit still
Difficulty focusing
Sweating or a rapid heartbeat
Irritability or anxiety
Planning to gamble
What’s Happening in the Brain When You Have an Urge to Gamble?
Dr. Iris Balodis explains that there are multiple parts of the brain involved in gambling urges. These include:
The Attention Network
As people develop gambling problems, this part of the brain becomes overly-sensitive to anything associated with gambling. The Attention Network directs your attention to gambling “cues or triggers,” e.g. an advertisement for gambling or feeling bored.The Top-Down Control Network
This part of the brain helps keep track of our goals or what’s important to you, e.g. saving money for a car. It also supports you to apply the brakes to behaviours and impulses, e.g. when your friends are talking about betting on an upcoming game, the Top-Down Control Network helps you to stay focused on your goal of saving for a car. However, when gambling becomes a problem, this part of the brain isn’t working very well. As a result, it’s harder to stay focused on that goal of saving for a car and applying the brakes to gambling.Insula
This part of the brain is involved in processing physical sensations and emotions (including urges). It can also drive you towards finding relief from the intensity of an urge (perhaps by gambling as a way to get relief).Habit Hub
This part of the brain makes behaviours that we do regularly seem automatic. When gambling has been happening frequently and compulsively, it can seem like an automatic reflex to gamble (without pause or thought).
Urges happen because your brain is really tuned in to reminders of gambling. These reminders of gambling (which we call triggers or cues) spark off a revved up feeling in anticipation of gambling. Your brain is driving you to act on the urges and the parts that would typically help you to pause and bring your focus to something else, aren’t working very well. The stop message isn’t getting through or if it is, it’s not very reliable. Gambling also becomes wired into your brain as a habit and happens automatically when triggered.
Iris tells us that recent research shows how advertising specifically acts as a trigger for gambling urges and produces a conflict between the urge to gamble and your commitment to stop.
What’s Triggering My Urge to Gamble?
Sometimes it seems like the desire to gamble comes out of nowhere. Maybe you even wake up and immediately feel like gambling. Other times, you clearly know what got you thinking about gambling.
It’s really helpful to figure out what triggers your gambling. Why? So you can avoid these triggers or be better prepared when they come up. When experiencing an urge, it helps to be able to step back, remind yourself that your brain has been triggered and it’s now responding in a familiar way by creating a desire to gamble.
To identify your triggers for gambling, look back at previous times you’ve gambled and notice any patterns, e.g. when you gambled, why you gambled, what happened just before you gambled. You can also pay attention throughout the day to what sparks off a thought or desire to gamble.
Here’s some common examples of triggers that Deirdre shared in this episode:
Hearing someone talk about gambling and wins
Watching someone gamble
Seeing cash or knowing you have access to money
Having a great day and feeling invincible
Having a hard time and thinking, “I will never be in control of my life”
Seeing or touching your phone or whatever device you use to gamble online
Watching a sporting event or seeing ads for sports betting
How Can I Handle Gambling Urges (and Not Gamble)
One of the tricky things about gambling is that because it is a behaviour (something we do) most people believe it’s simple to stop (just don’t do it). However, what the brain research tell us is that with gambling (like other behaviours that can become problematic or an addiction) willpower alone is often not enough to deal with gambling urges. This is because the brain becomes overly focused on gambling, is likely on automatic pilot, and isn’t able to slow down and think clearly about your goals or options other than gambling. Plus, your brain is also focused on all the negative sensations of an urge and is driving you to gamble as a way to get relief. It can be really hard to say “no” to an urge. Your whole being often feels consummed by it.
However, there is good news! The longer you go without gambling, the less urges you’ll experience. Brain changes happen over time. Your brain will become less focused on gambling triggers, and more able to re-focus on your goals and tolerate the discomfort of an urge.
Plus, urges will go away if you don’t fuel them with thinking about and planning gambling. Often this will happen after about 15 minutes, especially if you distract yourself during this time and remember why you don’t want to gamble
The key take away is: if you understand what’s going on in the brain and practice recognizing triggers and urges, you’ll be better able to ride them out and resist gambling. The more you do this, the more urges will decrease.
Here’s ideas from Deirdre about what to THINK as you experience an urge:
Remind yourself that urges are common and will happen even when you don’t want to gamble
Play the tape to the end - what will really happen if you gamble?
Think about how much better off you are without gambling in your life
Think of the promises you have made to others and yourself
Think about what is important to you and why you don’t want to gamble
Here’s ideas from Deirdre about what to DO as you experience an urge:
Move into a different environment, especially one where you are not exposed to gambling triggers, e.g. to a different room, or go outside
Do something that requires your focus, e.g. a non-gambling game on your phone, a conversation, count backwards from 100
Try an attention grabbing sensation such as holding an ice cube, tasting a lemon, or splashing water on your face
Get away from your ability to gamble, e.g., from your device or access to money
Have a sleep
Do anything to move your body, e.g. walk, rake leaves, stretch
Listen to music or a podcast
To hear more from Deirdre and Iris about the brain science of urges, as well as how to cope with them and re-wire your brain, listen to episode 74 of Fold em. Listen now by clicking on the green play button at the top of this blog or the red Listen Now to Fold em button at the bottom.
Related Fold em Episodes
You can also listen to other episodes of Fold em in which Deirdre and Iris share more about problem gambling and the brain.
Listen now by clicking on the play buttons below.
What Support is Available to Help With Gambling Concerns?
To learn more about gambling concerns and how to access resources and support, go to the home page of this website or listen to other episodes of Fold em.
Fold em is funded by Gambling Support BC.
We welcome your feedback and ideas for topics for upcoming episodes. Reach out through the Contact Us page on this website or through email at foldempodcast@gmail.com
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* BrainConnections.ca - Having Urges