Compulsive Gamblers Battle Addiction Odds : Those Afflicted Have a Record Rate of Suicide Attempts

Whenever Michael Brubaker was crossing the border into Nevada, he said, his hands started to sweat. His stomach knotted. His foot pressed harder on the accelerator.

He was headed for Las Vegas.

There are an estimated 80 million gamblers in the United States who play cards, lotteries, bingo, slot machines, or bet on sports or races for entertainment. But Brubaker, who is now program manager for the CareUnit at Bellflower Doctors Hospital, was not one of them. Instead, he said, he was one of the estimated 6 million pathological gamblers who are out of control--as addicted to gambling as to any drug.

Calling himself a recovering alcoholic, recovering smoker and recovering gambler, Brubaker Wednesday outlined the dangers of compulsive gambling to two dozen therapists, nurses, labor and management leaders gathered for the eighth in a series of workshops sponsored by Problems of Labor and Management at Starting Point of Orange County, a chemical dependency rehabilitation hospital in Costa Mesa.

Hope for Death

About 20% of compulsive gamblers recently questioned at a treatment center had attempted suicide--attempts usually connected with their seemingly hopeless financial situation, Brubaker said. It is the highest suicide-attempt rate among any type of addict, he said. The rate for other addicts is about one in 10, he added.

In addition, many gamblers hope they will die in plane crashes or have single car accidents so their survivors can pay off their debts with the insurance money, Brubaker said.

“We say it (gambling) is not that bad, but people are blowing their brains out, and hoping their planes crash. . . .”

Compulsive gambling is not classified as an addictive disease in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Instead it is listed as a disorder of “impulse control,” along with fire setting, he told the group.

However, as one of the few professionals who deal with gamblers, Brubaker considers gambling to be a drug like any other that keeps people hooked even after they become aware of the adverse consequences of continuing. Like other addicts, compulsive gamblers can never get enough, he said. “You don’t gamble for the money. You gamble to be in the game. . . . The anticipation is as good or better than the bet itself.”

Sometimes, he said, physical symptoms overtake psychological symptoms, as when he approached Las Vegas. “Once you get to the table, the symptoms subside.”

Those who try to quit can experience physical withdrawal symptoms such as nightmares, insomnia and vomiting, he said. A December article in Psychology Today said that gamblers entering one of the few treatment centers for compulsive gambling commonly complained of stomach problems, hypertension, tremors, cold sweats, sleeplessness and nightmares. Many were severely depressed.

But compulsive gambling differs from other addictions because it is more secret, according to Brubaker. “Even though you do it in the open, it’s more like the bulimic who eats and throws up in private. There is an underworld type of mentality,” he continued. Because they need to borrow money, gamblers can’t let on when they win or lose. “There’s more loneliness and more of an attitude that you can’t trust a gambler.”

At the same time families of gamblers, wives in particular, are more cooperative in helping cover up legal, financial, work or personal problems. One theory is that they share the delusion of hitting it big.

In his new book, “When Luck Runs Out,” Robert Custer, a Washington psychiatrist notes that 80% of gamblers are men and the average age of a compulsive gambler is 55. Custer’s surveys, quoted by Brubaker, show that 94% are employed, 84% are married to a spouse who supports the gambling habit, 56% borrow money from illegal sources, 75% brag about winning even when they are losing, 90% feel like big shots, and six years after quitting, 60% still have the urge to bet.

While the notion of an “addictive personality” remains controversial, Brubaker said pathological gamblers tend to be highly intelligent, have a high energy level coupled with a lack of tolerance for others with low energy, have a history of athletic excellence and good school work performance, are good organizers but poor participants, have few hobbies and are bored easily in social situations.

Brubaker noted that the symptoms of compulsive gambling are the same as alcoholism: lost time from work, financial trouble, decreased productivity at work; nonviolent criminal acts such as passing bad checks, embezzling or selling secrets; diminished self-esteem; stress leading to physical and emotional deterioration; personal relationships destroyed; families broken.

Gamblers who answer “yes” to any three of the following questions are likely compulsive gamblers, he said:

Are you actively gambling?

Do you borrow money to gamble?

Could you be in trouble with the law related to your gambling?

Is your job at risk?

Are your personal relationships suffering?

Are you anxious and depressed?

Do you spend a lot of time thinking about gambling?

Have you lost friends because of gambling?

Do you return to gambling right after you win?

Do you double your bets when behind?

Do you hide your gambling from friends and relatives?

Have you missed time from work due to gambling?

Has anyone ever mentioned your gambling as a problem?

Do you only talk about the times you win and minimize your losses?

Is gambling important to you?

Brubaker, 46, a certified alcoholism counselor, retired from the Navy as senior counselor for the Naval Alcohol Rehabilitation Service in Long Beach in 1980. He has also worked with employee assistance programs at corporations including Hughes Aircraft, Bank of America and Pacific Telephone.

Gambling Encouraged

Gambling is openly encouraged in our society from penny arcade games up to the state lottery, he said. He pointed to an advertisement from a car dealer offering 100 free lottery tickets to customers. A pathological gambler, said Brubaker, would figure he could pay off the car with his lottery winnings.

He said he started gambling at age 6 by lagging pennies and then nickels and then dimes. When he was treated in a military hospital for alcoholism, he said, he “gambled every night at the hospital. The poker game was open to anyone who was sober for 30 days.” After becoming sober, he said, he became a horse player.

Brubaker believes that he, like many others, simply switched addictions. “People look for other ways to deal with their feelings. The sudden rush (that comes with) gambling is real important.” Gambling ranks behind cocaine and sex and ahead of food as far as the speed of a “fix,” he said.

Most gamblers he has seen have other addictions, commonly alcoholism. When gamblers drink, he explained, “they don’t feel the losses.”

Lynn Kite, director of New Directions, a women’s recovery program in Orange County, observed during the program that several women who had successfully completed treatment for drug or alcohol addiction had called her back asking her to put up money for get-rich-quick schemes.

“I think we lose a lot of alcoholics who don’t recover because we don’t treat gambling,” agreed Judith Turian, a clinical psychologist from Long Beach who attended the program. “In every way they are the same.” Considering the physiological changes produced by adrenaline rushes, gambling can impact a person’s life as much as alcohol, she believes.

However, she observed that few psychologists are dealing with gambling or multiple addictions.

Dale Lelli, business representative for Teamsters Union Local 952 in Orange, said he had been attending all the Problems of Labor and Management workshops on drug and alcohol abuse in order to help union workers whose jobs are in jeopardy obtain a leave of absence for recovery. “Gambling touches a lot of people,” he noted halfway through the program. “In my own mind, it’s not as easy to see as a major problem as drugs and alcohol. But if they’re scratching off 100 lottery tickets, that (could be) production time. . . .”

To stop gambling, compulsive gamblers must abstain totally, Brubaker stated. Some gamblers must be separated totally from their environment, he said. While treatment programs exist for alcoholism, other chemical dependencies and eating disorders, there are only four inpatient psychiatric treatment centers for gamblers in Ohio, New York, Maryland and Connecticut, and only the Connecticut facility is funded by gambling revenue taxes, Brubaker said.

The first inpatient treatment center was set up in 1972 by psychiatrist Custer at the Cleveland Veterans Administration Center in Brecksville, Ohio. According to the Psychology Today article, the program has served as the model for others and focuses on group psychotherapy sessions as well as education classes on addiction and finances. Patients may also learn assertiveness, how to cope with stress and family living techniques.

They are also referred to Gamblers Anonymous for follow-up support.

Based on AA Model

Gamblers Anonymous has been running successful programs based on the Alcoholics Anonymous model for the past 28 years, Brubaker said. There are 27 chapters of the self-help organization from Palm Springs to Ventura. A companion organization, Gamanon, also exists for spouses.

According to Brubaker, “recovering gamblers” must avoid any “betting or wagering for self or others whether for money or not, no matter how slight or insignificant where the outcome is uncertain and depends on chance or skill.”

Brubaker says he knows now he cannot watch a horse race without making a bet, so he never goes to the track. He would not buy a house for an investment. Nor would he buy a lottery ticket for someone else because he said it would be “gambling by proxy.”

Many of the country’s 80 million gamblers might not recall their last bet, but Brubaker remembers to the hour. “It was in 1978. Nov. 24 at 6 in the morning on the golf course. And, yes, I won.”

He said he had insomnia for 60 days afterwards. But quitting may have been easier for him since as a recovering alcoholic, he said he was already familiar with abstinence techniques which he used as well as a solid social support system.

Now, he says, “money is not a priority in my life. Except to pay bills.”