Consequences of pathological gambling on the gambler and his spouse

Abstract

The consequences of pathological gambling negatively impact many aspects of the life of both the gambler and his relatives. This exploratory study compared the gambler's perceptions of the consequences of gambling in his life and in the life of his spouse with the perceptions that his spouse had of the same consequences. Seven couples, each including a male pathological gambler, participated in the study. Members of each couple individually completed the questionnaire. The descriptive analyses showed that each member of the couple mentioned, in addition to the financial consequences, different consequences stemming from the gambling behaviour of the gambler. The analyses revealed that the spouse perceived the consequences she experienced, as well as those experienced by the gambler, as more severe than the gambler perceived them. This paper discusses how each member of a couple that includes a pathological gambler differs in their perception of harm related to gambling.

The Pathological Gambler and his Spouse: How do their Narratives Match?

“…These results are in accordance with the findings reported by Ferland et al (2008) that spouses see the consequences of gambling as more serious. Despite this quantitative difference, the couple's narratives are quite deficit-focused, and include marriage problems and individual problems.…”

“…Despite this quantitative difference, the couple's narratives are quite deficit-focused, and include marriage problems and individual problems. In fact, couples with a pathological gambler partner face a set of problems also found in our case study: emotional expressiveness (''I keep asking if everything is ok, he says yes, but it is not...'' -spouse) (Lorenz & Yaffee, 1986); communication (''I only talk when I have to, he thinks I talk too much and even so he does not listen to me'' -spouse) (Ferland et al, 2008;Fernández, Rincón, & Álvarez, 2002;Lorenz & Shuttlesworth, 1983); emotional intimacy (''with our problem I've stopped being so loving'' -spouse) (Lorenz & Yaffee, 1986), sexual intimacy (''we are physically, intimately, sexually distant'' -spouse) (Dowling, Smith, & Thomas, 2009;Fernández et al, 2002;Lorenz & Yaffee, 1986); lying and deceiving (''I am sorry if I distrust you but you lied to me and deceived me'' -spouse) (Dickson-Swift et al, 2005); anger and resentment (''I do not forgive him because he always gambles when it is hard on everyone'' -spouse) (Fernández et al, 2002;Lorenz & Yaffee, 1986); lack of trust (''this atmosphere of distrust has no benefits'' -gambler); feelings of guilt (''I feel the consequences of irresponsibility; had I been more responsible we would not have come to this'' -gambler); isolation (''he is distant, inhibited, does not talk'' -spouse); financial problems (''I missed speech therapy because we could not afford it...'' -spouse) (Dickson-Swift et al, 2005;Lorenz & Yaffee, 1986); and gambler's dwindling responsibility/spouse's increasing responsibility (''What I would like? That he would be around keeping up with details of everyday life, not to have to take care of everything myself like replacing a light bulb'' -spouse) (Fernández et al, 2002).…”

“…Finally, regarding physical symptoms, gamblers reported a greater diversity of symptoms experienced. More recently, a qualitative exploratory study (N = 7 couples with a pathological gambler member) (Ferland et al, 2008) found that spouses perceive the consequences of gambling as more serious than do the gamblers, emphasising difficulties in the gambler's social life, whereas gamblers themselves are more inclined to perceive as serious the negative consequences of gambling on their own psychological well-being. Couples' views seem to converge when it comes to financial aspects (Ferland et al, 2008).…”

Contexto Familiar y Adicción al Juego. Factores que determinan su relación.

“…Concretamente han demostrado que el maltrato influye tanto en el inicio precoz como en el grado de severidad de la adicción (Arcaya et al, 2011). Tanto, Ferland et al (2008), como Stein et al (2009), han asociado la negligencia familiar y el abuso físico con la adicción al juego. En esta misma línea, Hodgins et al (2010) demostraron que, aún cuando estuvieran controlados los factores individuales y sociales, el abuso infantil podría predecir, tanto la gravedad de las ludopatía, como la periodicidad de juego.…”

Réduction des risques et jeux d’argent. Questions ouvertes par la révision du dispositif suisse

“…Défini par la présence de symptômes d'addiction (signes de sevrage psychologique et de tolérance nécessitant d'augmenter le degré d'engagement pour atteindre le niveau de stimulation recherché), de symptômes obsessifs (préoccupation envahissante) et de symptômes impulsifs (reproduction du comportement de jeu en dépit des conséquences), le jeu excessif concerne 1 % à 4 % de la population adulte dans les pays occidentaux (Stucki & Rihs-Middel, 2007). La pratique des jeux d'argent est associée à un risque élevé de conflits avec l'entourage et d'isolement social (Ferland, Fournier, Ladouceur, Brochu, Bouchard, & Paquet, 2008), de difficultés financières, de pertes de productivité, de stress, d'anxiété, de dépression et de sentiment de culpabilité, de perturbation du sommeil, d'abus de substances, de problèmes judiciaires (Fong, 2005 ;Oliveira, Silveira & Silva, 2008) et de conduites suicidaires (Chen & al., 2006 ;Wong, Cheung, Conner, Conwell & Yip, 2010).…”