Premium
Problematic Gambling Patterns: Approaching a Systemic View
Author(s) -
Hammond Greg
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
australian and new zealand journal of family therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.297
H-Index - 19
eISSN - 1467-8438
pISSN - 0814-723X
DOI - 10.1002/j.1467-8438.1997.tb00296.x
Subject(s) - viewpoints , immorality , psychology , relevance (law) , field (mathematics) , social psychology , epistemology , morality , art , philosophy , mathematics , political science , pure mathematics , law , visual arts
In this paper Family Therapy concepts are explored as a conceptual base from which to extend our understanding of problematic gambling patterns. Definitions of problematic gambling patterns vary considerably and are as often based on personal and cultural viewpoints as they are on clinical criteria. The two dominant descriptions of ‘problem gambling’ emphasise the individual. The older description is that ‘problem gambling’ results from personal immorality, weakness and self indulgence. The more contemporary and less vilifying description is that problem gamblers are in the grip of an ‘illness’. This paper proposes a systemic model using universal themes noted more generally in Family Therapy, that seem to have relevance in this specific field. Bateson's theory of relationships and particularly his description of ‘symmetrical systems’ are pivotal to one of three formulations of problem gambling phenomena proposed in this paper.