Marty:
Omaha’s The Biggest Loser

Is coming to Peace and Power Counseling’s treatment group!

Thursday December 8, 2011 at 7:00pm

 You will learn about: 
· Marty’s exercise program
· How affordable it is.
· Marty’s tricks for losing weight and keeping the weight off.
· How this relates to you.

I hope you can join us. Please RSVP to Gina Fricke at 402-515-7412.

Sometimes life can seem like a  tangled mess. Dysfunctional relationships, past or current abuse, dead-end careers, financial stressors, and so much more in our daily lives can create knots of hopelessness, discouragement, confusion, and depression that look impossible to untangle. 

If that describes your life, it might be time to get help. Having someone with compassion and understanding help you reorganize your thoughts and recognize unhealthy behaviors can be the way to a fresh start. As a therapist-in-training, I commit to caring about your needs while continuing to expand my knowledge as I serve you. 
  
I currently intern under the direct supervision of Gina Fricke, LCSW, CCGC, NCGC, II, owner of Peace and Power Counseling and will earn my Master’s in Counseling from the University of Nebraska at Omaha in May 2012. Through my training in practicum and internships, I have experience in relationship, young adult, and career counseling.

Peace and Power Counseling has a new intern.  Bethany will graduate with her Master Degree in Counseling in May 2012.  She is learning how to counsel individuals and couples. Because she is a student, we are able to offer reduced cost counseling sessions to those who have no insurance.  Please contact Gina Fricke at 402-515-7412 to schedule a time to see Bethany. We will accept the first five people who contact us. 

Please be aware that if you decide to work with Bethany some of your sessions will be observed by Gina Fricke and that Bethany will be receiving guidance on your case by Gina as well. Please be sure to ask about this if you have any concerns.  We look forward to hearing from you.

Gina Fricke at Peace and Power Counseling was recognized by SCORE as one of 5 entrepreneurs of 2010. I would like to thank Bob Balzerick of SCORE for all his guidance and support as I moved to a new chapter of my life at Peace and Power Counseling. Article in Midland's Business Journal can be ordered 402-330-1760, SCORE can be reached at 402-221-3606.

Psychiatric community decides to classify uncontrolled gamblers as addicts, which could change how society views them

Author:

Mangels, John

Source:

Cleveland.com

Published Date:

May 16, 2011

Full Document:

USA - Out-of-control gambling -- a particular problem among regular slot machine players -- will be reclassified from a behavioral disorder to an addiction, as of 2013.For more than 30 years, doctors have considered pathological gambling a behavioral disorder, not an addiction. But that's about to change.

In 2013, the psychiatric community will officially classify uncontrolled gamblers as addicts -- the first-ever "behavioral addiction." Pathological gambling will no longer be an impulse-control problem, like fire-starting and obsessive hair-plucking.

Instead it will be grouped with "classic" addictions such as alcoholism, smoking and drug abuse in the next edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, the sourcebook that guides diagnosis and treatment.

The change signifies that getting hooked doesn't necessarily require ingesting a mind-altering substance, like chugging whiskey or injecting heroin. It also can result from spinning a slot machine's reels.

The re-branding of pathological gambling as an addiction is based on research -- much of it in the last decade -- that shows striking similarities between the conditions. The brain-functioning and behaviors of all addicts have a lot in common, scientists say, whether the person is drinking, smoking, shooting up or gambling. That suggests, but doesn't prove, they share the same biological underpinnings.

Pathological gambling's reboot is controversial. Some critics believe it's political and further "medicalizes" a behavioral weakness that shouldn't be labeled a disease.

Still, it could alter how pathological gamblers are treated, how their care is paid for, and how society views them.

Pathological gambling a young research field

Non-gamblers and those who gamble without problems often have trouble understanding why anyone can't just walk away from a slot machine, or avoid a casino altogether.

"I think we probably are still fairly judgmental" about pathological gambling, said psychologist Loreen Rugle, the director of Connecticut's problem gambling services program. "Most people rank gambling as a moral offense that should literally be treated with a good swift kick in the pants. Public awareness is years behind other mental health and addictive disorders."

Loreen Rugle, psychologist and Connecticut's director of problem gambling services, talks about differing attitudes toward problem gambling and harm-reduction.

Part of the reason is lack of knowledge. Scientists, and therefore the public, have a much better understanding of substance-based addictions than of pathological gambling. They've been the subject of decades of study, much of it federally funded, with national institutes dedicated to alcoholism and drug abuse established in the early 1970s.

Pathological gambling research, by contrast, is a young field that often scrambles for money.

The popular view of excessive gambling as a moral weakness also stems from widespread skepticism that a misbehavior could be beyond a person's control, especially if a mind-altering substance isn't involved.

In short, people may find it hard to believe that preoccupation with gambling is a disease.

But if the definition of a disease is a physiological, biochemical or genetic abnormality that causes harm, then pathological gambling fits the bill.

More to the point, gambling addicts and substance addicts share enough of those abnormalities, as well as symptoms, to convince researchers the disorders are closely related.

Dr. Heather Chapman, director of the Brecksville VA Medical Center's gambling addiction treatment program, discusses gambling addiction.

"There are a host of reasons why [pathological gambling] should be with substance-use disorders," said psychologist and addiction researcher Nancy Petry, a member of the American Psychiatric Association committee that recommended the change.

For example, brain scans show that uncontrolled gamblers and drug abusers both have lowered activity in a neural circuit that's involved in judging risk, University of Colorado researchers reported in 2007.

There's also evidence that vulnerability to gambling addiction and substance addiction is inherited, suggesting the conditions have gene defects in common. "We're seeing people who are prone to pathological gambling who have addictions in their family in general," said psychologist Heather Chapman, who runs the gambling treatment program at the Brecksville VA Medical Center.

And the symptoms, treatment and outcomes for both types of addicts have a lot of overlap. Gamblers and substance abusers tend to get hooked as teens or young adults, and they're the same personality types: impulsive, bad-decision-making risk-takers.

They both feel cravings, both need more and more gambling or drugs as time passes to experience the same high (a condition called tolerance), and both undergo uncomfortable withdrawal when they stop. That hints the addicts' brain wiring has undergone similar changes -- or neuroadaptation -- whether by thumbing a slot machine a thousand times an hour or smoking crack every morning.

Their addictions each wax and wane. They may recover without treatment, but both respond to motivational and 12-step programs.

The drug naltrexone, which blunts drug and alcohol cravings, also seems to help gambling addicts resist the urge to bet, further suggesting -- though not proving -- that behavioral and substance addictions are two sides of the same coin. In fact, more than 70 percent of gambling addicts also have alcohol problems and more than 30 percent are drug abusers.

"It's very rare that I get a 'pure' gambler," Chapman said. "Most of them have another addiction in the past."

Reclassifying could affect funding

Switching pathological gambling to the category of addictions could help attract more research money, and more researchers, said Christine Reilly, executive director of the Institute for Research on Gambling Disorders.

Under its current incarnation as an impulse disorder, "I don't think a lot of people in the field have taken it seriously as an addiction," said Reilly, whose organization manages pathological gambling research paid for by the casino industry. The more than $22 million donated by the industry since 1996 has filled a huge void in government funding.

"If you're a young investigator and you see hardly any gambling research getting funded at the national level, why would you pick that as your career?" Reilly said. Reclassifying gambling as an addiction "could make a huge difference."

The change also could affect the willingness of insurers to pay for pathological gambling treatment.

"They pay for [substance] addiction now, whereas a lot of companies won't pay for impulse disorders," said Jenny Campbell-Roux, who directs the Problem Gambling Network of Ohio.

Adding gambling addiction to the list of covered disorders probably won't happen without a fight, warned Keith Whyte, executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling. "If [insurers] have been refusing to address this disorder for decades, it's unlikely they're going to change their policies without regulation or legislation."

The biggest impact of gambling's reclassification as an addiction may be on pathological gamblers themselves, who often have difficulty comprehending why they can't quit betting.

"You have addicts in recovery who don't understand -- 'If it's a [behavioral] action, why can't I stop it? I'm not putting something into my brain.'" said Campbell-Roux. "They don't get it."

On April 15 three online poker sites were shut down.  How is this impacting you?  There are some who believe that the casinos will be more busy after the websites were closed, others believe that there will be more illegal poker games in communities.  What do you think will happen?  What have you seen happen already?  I would love to hear from you on this.

For many gamblers this check feels like, "free money," and an opportunity to win more.  Many individuals with addiction to gambling have a hard time not gambling their tax return checks. 

Some suggestions that might prevent this from happening:
1) Develop accountability with your check.
    Find someone else to tell when you get it and tell what you plan to do with it.  Ask them to go with you when you take it to the bank and have them sit with you while you write out the checks to those you owe money or for your bills.
2) Most businesses will take your payment in advance.  
    If you decide you want to put the money toward your rent or mortgage or toward another debt, don't wait.  Pay it now.  They don't mind taking your payment early.
3) Have someone else hold the check for you, or deposit it into their account.
    If you don't have access to the money it is not likely to be gambled. Make sure you trust the perosn who will hold your money, make sure that the person is also not going to make you beg for the money when you need it.

If you need additional help to prevent money you don't want to gamble from being gambled please give Peace and Power Counseling a call, we can help.

Sports Related Problem Gambling – Who is at Risk?

Anyone can develop a gambling problem – young, old, male, female, rich or poor. All games of chance are a potential threat to a person at risk for gambling addiction. However, sports gambling is becoming more invasive in today’s society and is reaching younger audiences. The 2010 National Annenberg Survey of Youth showed that sports betting is the most popular form of gambling among youth 14 - 22.

Nearly a quarter of adolescent males bet on sports in an average month. According to the NCAA, 92% of male college athletes reported that they started gambling [on sports or any other gambling] in high school or earlier. Many students are first introduced to wagering on sports by completing an NCAA tournament bracket or buying a Super Bowl square, suggesting these forms of gambling may serve as a gateway to more expensive and dangerous forms of betting, according to a study conducted by Tim Otteman of US News & World Report. The NCAA estimates that 1 in 10 Americans will complete a tournament bracket, and CNBC estimates that $6-12 billion is wagered on March Madness.

While betting on a tournament or football game does not automatically cause a problem or put someone on the path towards addiction, its popularity does create the need for education and encouraging responsible gambling practices.

Much of the recent research shows a higher interest, and thereby higher risk, to males and youth.

According to the International Centre for Youth Gambling Problems and High-Risk Behaviors at McGill University, boys develop more gambling problems than girls because they are more competitive and enjoy feeling important when they win. Also, boys are more susceptible to develop gambling problems than girls because they participate in gambling activities that are more problematic, such as sports betting. They believe that because they know all the teams and the players, they have a good chance of winning their bet. Many teenagers have developed a gambling problem due to their participation in betting on sports events.

Athletes are at a high risk for sports gambling for many reasons including unreasonable expectation of winning, competitive personalities, need for action and excitement, ability to play through pain and perception of social norms. Some other risk factors of problem gambling in general include being an athlete, belief in one’s own skill, racial and ethnic minorities are at a higher risk of developing a gambling addiction, easy access to money, and having a family history of addiction.

National Problem Gambling Awareness Week is an ideal time to raise awareness of problem gambling and responsible gaming. While anyone is at risk, there are specific risk factors to be aware of. Know the risk factors, and know your limits before you place a bet.
Public service message provided by he National Council on Problem Gambling.

Free CEU presentation for LMHP and LCSW
“Basic Information About Gambling Addiction.”

April 7, 11:30 to 12:30 at Peace and Power Counseling 6901 Dodge St., Suite 101.

Program Content: Participants will learn about compulsive gambling/pathological gambling.  They will learn about resources in the community for low to no cost gambling evaluations and treatment.

Objectives:
1. Participants will learn the difference between problem gambling and pathological gambling.

2. Participants will learn the two different types of pathological gamblers.

3. Participants will learn the similarities and differences between pathological gambling and drug dependence.

4. Participants will learn about the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) and the Lie/Bet Screening.

5. Participants will learn how to score these screening tools.

6. Participants will learn a harm reduction/way to address clients in the precontemplation stage of the change process.

7. Participants will learn where to refer clients for low to no cost gambling treatment services in Omaha.


Please contact Gina Fricke for more information and/or to register at 402-515-7412

Please join us on March 22, 6:00pm at the Swanson Library at 90th and Dodge Street for a free event that will help acknowledge March as Problem Gambling Awareness Month.
 
Speak with a counselor who specializes in treating those suffering with gambling problems and their family members.  Find the answer to your      questions.

· How to help someone you care about who has a problem.
· Youth Gambling: How to protect your children.
· Financial Problems: How to protect your money.
· Gambling in the workplace: How to protect your business.