Part 2. Why the problem?
A. Keywords
compulsive gamblers, family love, parental approval, self-destruction, acceptance.
Vocabulary
compulsive gambler, addict, inclination, compel, chapter, Gamblers Anonymous (GA).
In this section, you're going to hear a report about compulsive gamblers. Listen carefully, note down the answers to the following two questions.
Compulsive gamblers almost always come from homes lacking in love.
As a result, the child grows up still looking for the wants of family love and parental approval.
Another aspect to the nature of the gambling addict is that unconsciously he wants to lose.
Psychiatrists believe that compulsive gamblers consciously may expect to win.
However, there's a strong element of self-destruction in an inclination to continue betting until all is lost.
One New York psychiatrist believes that basically the compulsive gambler is seeking an answer to the question: "Do you love me?"
By winning, he receives a yes answer. However, the gambler cannot accept the yes he sometimes receives, because it is contrary to the reality of his or her unhappy childhood, one lacking in family life.
The gambler's compelled to continue betting, thus expressing again and again his need for love and acceptance.
When gamblers addicts do win some money, they rarely spend any of it on their families.
Money is like a sacred thing to the addicts. It is reserved for one thing, placing a bet.
Fortunately, there is hope and help today for gambling addicts. Psychiatric treatment is one possibility. World therapy seems to help in some cases.
The most readily available and the least expensive help comes from an organization called "Gamblers Anonymous"(GA).
GA has more than 90 chapters in the US with about 3000 gamblers seeking a cure.
One basic rule of GA is the gamblers must pay back all their debts, even it takes many years to do so.
Thousands of members credit GA with saving them from their addiction, and helping them to build new lives free from the gambling sickness.
Happily, today, with more public interest in helping the gambling addict overcome his problem,
and with such organizations as the GA, the gamblers who wants help to break his addiction, now has some place or some one to turn to.