Introduction
As the notorious pandemic closes the doors of brick-and-mortar casinos, more and more players are shifting online to an ever more alluring environment of top-notch gambling conditions, mind-boggling bonuses, and who knows how many other perks. The online gambling multiverse unfolding on the screen is so powerful, though, that some punters can never quit – which eventually leads to gambling addiction, a disease that has smitten about 1% of the world population.
On the bright side, anyone applying certain emotional intelligence practices has all the chance to remain reasonable when playing and thereby avoid gambling addiction along with all kinds of psychological troubles. Without further ado, let’s proceed to the nature of gambling addiction and how emotional intelligence can help you stay level-headed when gambling at your Fortune Clock Casino or wherever you play.
Gambling Addiction
Gambling addiction hadn’t been recognized as a serious problem for dozens of years before the scientific community concluded that it rewires our brains just like drugs do. Both cause an enormous dopamine release, changing the brain regions responsible for memory, motivation, and pleasure – and then the addict wants more of that feeling of happiness and euphoria, repeating the vicious cycle over and over again.
Unfortunately, only about 20% of gambling addicts are unable to acknowledge the problem and fight it on their own – which is usually possible at an early stage by implementing such techniques as energy re-channeling, communicating with fellow addicts, or solving the real-life problem at the core of gambling addiction. More often than not, though, gambling addicts receive professional treatment: family therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, career counseling, as well as symptomatic treatment. About 75% of the addicts have relapses, yet another proof of the severity of the problem.
Emotional Intelligence and Gambling Addiction
It’s much more effective to prevent gambling addiction than to deal with its consequences. And while many believe a high Intelligence Quotient (IQ) is enough to avoid gambling addiction, IQ is not the determining factor here. A way more important is Emotional Quotient (EQ), which is the ability to sense, understand, and apply your emotions to stay in tune with yourself.
If you ask a hundred addicts why they play, you will receive a whole range of different answers, but what is common in them is that they do not understand their feelings, desires, and urges as they lack both emotional intelligence and the mindset required for conscious gambling. Luckily, both can be developed.
According to Daniel Goleman, emotional intelligence is defined by self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills – all of which can be learned and developed by:
- Self-evaluating your emotional intelligence. Define your strengths and weaknesses in the first place – for example, bypassing an online quiz. Make sure to be objective as it’s crucial for your further actions.
- Changing your emotional routine. The results of the test – of a few ones, if you want to be as objective as possible – will give you food for thought. You might need to listen more, avoid lengthy monologues, examine the effect of your action on others, and so on – and any of the possible techniques will have to do with changing your mindset.
- Working on your emotional intelligence daily. Managing your emotions is a life-long journey, but it will get simpler as long as you get accustomed to it. So practice it daily.
The recent studies on emotional intelligence and online gaming addiction confirmed that the best you can do is to work on your EQ as it’s not set in stone and can be developed in anyone. With good knowledge, a little bit of restraint, and some wisdom, you can achieve incredible results in boosting your emotional intelligence and thus safeguarding yourself against gambling addiction.
