Gambling Addiction
Gambling reinforces an alluring combination of anticipation, excitement, possibility, and unpredictability. Regardless of how or why you gamble, engaging in this pattern offers a temporary escape from everyday life. However, it can also become increasingly difficult to resist, and the emotional and financial consequences can accumulate quickly.
Hope is the currency that keeps the cycle going. You might believe that securing one big win will recover previous losses or resolve your financial stress. But wins often reinforce the desire to keep going, and losses create equally strong urges to get your money back. Over time, gambling can become compulsive, occupying more and more of your thoughts, finances, and emotional energy.
At Boreal Therapy Collective, we understand that gambling concerns often coexist with secrecy, fear, guilt, and significant uncertainty about what to do next. Whether you are trying to stop, recovering from financial or relationship consequences, or supporting someone you love, therapy can help you determine the next best steps.
To begin therapy for gambling addiction, book with:
Andrea Elliott
When Does Gambling Become an Addiction?
Because there is no physical substance involved, some people find it easier to conceal or downplay their gambling addiction. Friends and family may not recognize what is happening until there are significant financial losses or changes in behaviour. Signs of problematic gambling can include:
Gambling with increasing amounts of money
Feeling restless or irritable when trying to cut back
Repeatedly trying to reduce or stop gambling without much success
Gambling as an escape from stress, loneliness, boredom, or emotional pain
Gambling to recover previous financial losses
Borrowing money or accumulating debt to continue gambling
Lying about gambling activity or financial losses from loved ones
Feeling compelled to keep gambling after a win
Neglecting work, relationships, sleep, or other responsibilities
Experiencing significant anxiety about finances
Feeling guilt, panic, regret, or shame after gambling
It’s important to understand that gambling problems are not determined by how much money someone loses. Instead, therapists consider the overall impact the behaviour has on one’s overall quality of life. This includes considering how much time is spent gambling, the emotional investment involved, the degree of secrecy, and its impact on daily functioning.
Why is Gambling So Difficult to Stop?
Gambling is designed to prey on the tantalizing lure of uncertainty. When you’re gambling, you don’t know when a win will occur, and that unpredictability can make gambling especially compelling. The anticipation of what might happen can feel as seductive as winning itself.
There’s also often a strong need to “chase losses.” When this happens, people gamble to compensate for lost money. The more one loses, the more urgency they tend to feel to win everything back. Unfortunately, this often results in more losses and exacerbates financial damage.
Certain beliefs or superstitions about the process of gambling can also reinforce the cycle. For example, you might feel that a win is "due” after several losses. Or, you might interpret near-wins as signs that you were close and should try again.
Even experiencing a significant win may strengthen the idea that another win is possible, encouraging you to place larger bets. While gambling, you may hold onto rituals, strategies, lucky numbers, or strong intuitions to perpetuate the cycle.
The Emotional and Relational Impact of Gambling
Although financial consequences may be the most visible effects of gambling addiction, many people also experience intense combinations of shame, anxiety, irritability, hopelessness, and suicidal ideation. You may feel panicked about losing money one moment and intensely optimistic about your next opportunity to win moments later.
Gambling can profoundly affect relationships, as secrecy creates deeper layers of emotional distress. A partner discovering hidden debt or dishonesty around finances may feel intensely betrayed. Family members may oscillate between feeling confused, angry, scared, or unsure about how to provide support.
All of these reactions can intensify feelings of shame and isolation. This can create a painful dynamic where you desperately want support while simultaneously wanting to hide.
How Can Therapy Help With Gambling Addiction?
Interrupting the gambling cycle: Therapy can help you map out what happens before you gamble and what keeps you engaged in the pattern, even when you want to stop. Recognizing these individual patterns with both honesty and self-kindness helps you break this challenging cycle.
Examining gambling-related beliefs: Even subconscious beliefs about luck, probability, control, winning, and recovering losses can strongly influence gambling decisions. Cognitive-behavioural therapy focuses on identifying unhelpful thoughts and developing more realistic perspectives.
Learning to tolerate urges: Gambling urges come on strong, and they can feel exhausting to manage. Therapy can help you develop distress tolerance and emotion regulation skills to help you tolerate the uncomfortable feelings without acting on your impulses.
Addressing financial stress and secrecy: Although therapy does not replace professional financial advice, it can offer space to process the avoidance, fear, and secrecy that comes with gambling-related money problems. This may entail boundary work with loved ones and conversations around rebuilding trust.
Planning for high-risk situations: Access to gambling has changed dramatically in recent years. Because it’s become easier than ever to gamble, it will be essential to identify high-risk situations and create concrete relapse prevention plans. Your therapist can support you as you navigate this part of your recovery process.
Therapy for Gambling Addiction in Fort McMurray
How to Start Therapy for Gambling Addiction
Beginning therapy with Boreal Therapy Collective is easy and requires no referral. You can book your initial assessment here.
Understanding Length of Therapy and Treatment
Your first appointment will be 90-minutes long. For all future appointments, you can choose to book for 1 hour or 90-minutes. During your first appointment, your therapist will ask you questions to better understand you and your areas of struggle. This is known as an assessment. Depending on how much you share, the assessment phase can last anywhere from one to three appointments. The assessment is critical. It helps you and your therapist understand your goals, and it helps your therapist develop a treatment plan to support you in achieving these goals.
After the assessment is complete, treatment begins! In the treatment phase, you will be introduced to a variety of skills to practice and implement to better manage your symptoms. Most people will have a therapy session every two weeks, and we recommend this for optimal treatment. Effective therapy typically takes somewhere between six to twelve appointments (for some more, others less). Many choose to continue therapy once formal treatment is complete. This is referred to as maintenance. People who do this typically have an appointment once every six to eight weeks. This is not a requirement and is a matter of personal choice.
Therapy for Gambling Addiction at Boreal Therapy Collective
Where We Are Located
We’re located at 8530 Manning Avenue, Unit 104. You’ll find us in the Service Canada building (on the side of the building that faces the Clearwater River). To check out our space, click here.
Parking is located at the front and back of the building. The front parking lot is closer to us but tends to fill up quickly. If you park at the back (where Service Canada is located), you can walk around the building to reach our office. To learn more about parking, click here.
Importantly, you do not need to be in town for treatment. We offer in-person and virtual therapy and our therapists are happy to provide whatever option works best for you!
Rates & Benefit Coverage
Initial assessments are billed at a rate of $330.00 for a 90-minute appointment. Follow-up sessions are billed at a rate of $220.00/hour or $330.00/90-minutes (you can choose your preferred appointment length when booking).
Our social workers offer direct billing to 25+ benefit providers. Many benefit providers will cover a portion or the whole amount of your therapy session. With your consent, we will always direct bill your benefit provider first. Please note that our Registered Psychiatric Nurses are typically ineligible for direct billing.
If we are unable to direct bill, you can pay via email money transfer or credit card. You will be given a receipt once payment has been collected. For more information, click here.
