Problem Gambling and Internet Addiction Affect Different People

July 02, 2010 | News Category: Online Casinos

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Problem gambling is often in the news, as it should be, because those with gambling problems do need help. Reputable online gambling sites often show links to websites that can help those with gambling problems or addictions, or they offer the players contact details of somewhere that they can turn to for help.

Recently, there was a study that was conducted in order to assess the link, if there is one, between problem gambling, and Internet addiction. The study was conducted amongst university students in Australia, with surprising results.

One would think that those who are addicted to online gambling, and that those who are addicted to the use of the Internet, or are Internet Dependent as some call it, would tend to be the same people. The study, however, did not find this to be true. There are similarities amongst those who are addicted to either the Internet, or to online gambling, but in most cases, these people are simply not addicted to both these things.

What is found to be in common is that there are certain psychological types that have addictions, but not necessarily to the same things. Those that are battling issues such as anxiety, stress, depression, loneliness, and social isolation, are most likely to become addicted to something, and as it can be seen from this study, they could become addicted to either the Internet, or to online gambling.

The findings were published in an article entitled "Commonalities in the Psychological Factors Associated with Problem Gambling and Internet Dependence." The article was published in Rapid Communication in Cyberpsychology, Behaviour, and Social Networking. The publication is a peer-reviewed journal, which is published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.

Internet addiction is considered to be a behavioral addiction, as is problem gambling, be it online or land-based problem gambling. They do not, at least, according to this new study, seem to affect the same people. M. Brown from Monash University in Australia, and N.A. Dowling, Phd, from the University of Melbourne, both concluded that the two disorders may affect people with similar problems and issues, however, they are separate disorders. Because they do share people with similar psychological profiles, it may well be that they can be dealt with and managed in a similar way, even though they generally affect different people.

Those who have these problems may be helped best by helping them to deal with the tendencies that they have towards addiction in general, and also by targeting the specific addiction they are battling, be it online gambling, or Internet Dependence.