The internet is one of the two most familiar outlets for women with gambling problems, according to psychotherapist Liz Karter.
Karter has written a book, Women and Problem Gamblers, and concludes that addiction among women has its roots in something other than the "buzz” that men experience.
In an interview with InterGame, Karter explained her reasons for coming to this conclusion.
While men go for the adrenaline-pumping reaction of gambling, she said, women become involved to "numb themselves" for a number of personal reasons, with domestic violence cited as just one example.
Karter is also keen to emphasise that, in the UK at least, she considers the industry to have a "clean bill of health" in terms of attitudes toward gambling addiction and the supportive measures it has in place, although she believes that advertising can be an impediment to recovering addicts.
Karter has been a specialist in gambling addiction therapy for 10 years, for the past five concentrating on addiction among women. She runs her own women’s clinics in the UK and is a regular speaker at industry forums on the subject. The full interview appears in December’s InterGaming.
Liz Karter’s book, Women and Problem Gambling, may be purchased through www.routledgementalhealth.com and until December 31, 2013, the use of the special InterGaming discount code of PCO13 will result in a 20 per cent discount. A link to the book can be found here.
