Gambling as therapy for cocaine addiction

16-02-2011

Experiments by Swiss psychologists have showed that gambling curtails cocaine or crack addiction. A team of Swiss psychologists did a research on focusing the reward center inside the brain on other activities than using cocaine. The results show that blackjack gambling is the best therapy for cocaine or crack addiction.

Therapy

The treatment consists of blackjack or other casino games in combination with psychotherapy. All types of gambling can be applied to treat cocaine or crack addiction given the fact that every brain is unique.

Therapy

The use of cocaine triggers the brain’s reward center. A brain produces ecstatic hormones and neurotransmitters, which function as mood potentiators. Gambling has the same effect. The brain identifies an incentive from winning or the possibility to win. The reward functions as a mood enhancer that refocuses the reward center away from cocaine.

Gambling – drugs

Cocaine addiction and problem gambling are not comparable. Everybody is born with the desire to gamble, while using cocaine is a learned and strengthened way of behaving. Children will not feel the desire to use drugs unless somebody informs them. However, children do bet about which is the best football club without somebody learning them to do so.