The Ludopathie creates the social alarm, 100 billion smoke in 2017 – Medicine

Not just drugs, Alcohol and smoking.
Gambling and new forms of addiction to the Web are also on the list of pathological addictions.
The phenomena may still be underestimated but at the borderline boundary on the social alarm: according to the data of the State Monopoly revised by the Association for the study of games, the Italians spent in 2017, including slot machines, scratch cards and online games, more than 100 billion euros.
But how can a doctor recognize the symptoms of the onset of ludopathy in patients? The provider ECM 2506 Health in-Training and Stefano Lagona, psychologist and psychotherapist specializing in the treatment of addiction and new addictions, in collaboration with the Consulcesi Club, explain what the alarms are.
People affected by gambling – they point out – usually appear impulsive, extravagant and disordered. They have a weak sensibility and altruism, a greater social detachment and a preference for material rewards. These are subjects that are more verbally inhibited and less able to express feelings, feelings and fears with, on the contrary, a tendency to mask their emotions.
The pathological gambler can not separate from the game if it is not for short periods of time: compulsive behavior also dictated by the illusion of being able to redo the sums lost. And establishes with the game an exclusive and very engaging relationship. The high level of excitement reaches the push to neglect everything that concerns and surrounds it: family, affections and work.
The person affected by ludopathy – add specialists – feels the need to spend more and more money, in order to achieve the desired state of excitement, thereby losing the real perception of the value of money.
When he plays, the subject appears completely absorbed, he is separated from everything that surrounds him. When he tries to reduce or interrupt the game, he manifests a state of agitation and irritability: the "phenomenon of abstinence". (ANSA).