The Project: Kuwait

Psyched with Dr.D: Gambling Addiction what is it and how can it be fixed

October 25, 2020 The Project Kuwait Season 1 Episode 202
The Project: Kuwait
Psyched with Dr.D: Gambling Addiction what is it and how can it be fixed
Show Notes Transcript

In this episode we discuss additions focusing on gambling and what may become of someone affected by this disorder. 

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Addiction and Gambling

Sat, 10/24 10:43PM • 40:17

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

people, addiction, addicted, gambling, casino, kuwait, steroids, money, problem, realize, family, understand, lost, talk, sports, gamble, bet, parents, drugs, normalized

 

00:00

You are now listening to the project quake project quake project where we stop at nothing to bring you the right backs on health, fitness and psychology, featuring some of the world's most experienced professionals. So you can learn and play with your hosts make dirty, and maybe she had won a million dollars on a scratch ticket. Lo and behold, guess what, six months later, she loses her house, her car, she lost everything,

 

00:32

everything. Most of these appaddict are not communicators. They worry about expressing their feelings. So having family support is really important. And it's unfortunate some families here they don't want to talk about it because they're worried about what the society will say about them, or they're so angry at the addict.

 

00:50

All this and more in today's episode. Hey, everybody, welcome to this episode of project. I was just ripping on dr Dinka because she doesn't know who Bill Belichick is. Now, probably a lot of listeners won't know who Bill Belichick

 

01:02

pose, but I'm like, why do I need to know everything? I don't understand. I saw your posts on Instagram. I just like you know, I thought it was a motivational kind of guy. He's

 

01:11

the least motivational. He's the best NFL coach because he's so straightforward. In a press conference, they're like, why'd you guys lose today? He was like, we suck. And he just he just went, he just went quiet. Like the guy's known to have as little he just doesn't speak a lot. And he's very good at what he does. And he says the point of being on a team is just to do your job. So there's this whole thing, this whole campaign of just do your job was going on for a couple years. And that's the thing we were talking about sports bill Bell, check if you don't know who he is. You got to read up on this guy's like, he's a psychological genius. Right? Why do

 

01:47

you like him? Just I mean, how did you even get to know about him? Because you're in sport? Yeah.

 

01:52

Well, I mean, I'm from half Bostonian like

 

01:57

that last

 

01:59

year New England Patriots. New England Patriots. Super Bowl Tom Brady. I don't watch. You watch sports. I don't watch any sports. No, no, no,

 

02:11

I lifting I know, the Chicago Bulls, because I'm from Chicago. And I used to admire Michael Jordan. That's about it. That's the only thing I know. And I know everyone was buying his product.

 

02:21

I don't know. Michael Jordan is a guy who I'd love to get on the show. He'll never come on. But he's a psychological anomaly. He might No way. He's a psychological anomaly. The guy had a wicked bad gambling problem all throughout his NBA career. And from what I've heard, he still has a bad gambling problem, which I don't understand with athletes, especially like the really high caliber athletes. A lot of them have gambling problems. Michael Jordan Wayne Gretzky. I know because

 

02:49

they make so much money. They don't know what to do with their money. What What the Hell no,

 

02:52

but this has to stem from before they get all their money. Pete Rose, you know, Pete Rose's um, I supposed to say yes. No. No pressure, so it's okay. P bros is probably arguably one of the greatest baseball players to ever live. Right now. He has been banned from baseball after he was caught betting on his team. Now betting on your own team is a big No, no. Okay. That's a huge No, no. I mean, shoeless Joe Jackson, he was a player for the Chicago, the Chicago Black Sox in the 1930s. You ever hear the Black Sox?

 

03:25

Yes. Yeah.

 

03:26

They bet against their own team for wines. I have the right answer. There you go. There you go. Cuz you're from Chicago, and shoeless Joe Jackson would have probably been the greatest baseball player to ever live probably greater than Babe Ruth. But he bet against his team. And he was never let back into the MLB. Same thing with Pete Rose, Pete Rose will die. And they will not put him in the Hall of Fame, even though he owns the record for the most hits. Because he bet against this team. Why is it These guys have everything in the world, but yet they will go and they will do the unimaginable and bet against their own team doesn't make sense. What would possess them to do that? Please answer me that

 

04:01

one. They probably have like, addiction issues, right? And also, they feel like, you know, they can get away with it. And you know, the challenge of why people have gambling issues. I mean, why do people have you know, gambler, holics is because they always feel like they're gonna win they feel that they've got this ability that they might go against the odds and don't forget the drill and that they get out of like, you know, challenging going spending and and I feel like it becomes an addiction. I mean, even though these guys like, you know, Michael Jordan, he did have a lot of money, isn't it because they have a lot of money. It gives them fame, is it the challenge? Oh,

 

04:38

can't be the money. Come on. It can't be the money. I mean, they were drowning in money like

 

04:42

No, but I think it's the adrenaline it's the adrenaline I think. I think the idea of like them doing something that they know they can they've got the money and they're not stressed about it and then becomes an addiction. It can be money it has about winning, you know, most of these guys why are they so famous is because they tell themselves and they are winners. And I feel like they get into this gambling field of like betting against you know their team or why because they love the challenge. They love the winning part of it. I don't think it's money.

 

05:12

Here's my question. You're You're a psychologist. It's an objective perspective. I told you about p rose betting against his own team and whatever right. Now, here's my question. Do you think the MLB? Or do you think a sports body would be wrong to ban someone for life? Or do you think it's the sports body's responsibility to rehabilitate that athlete who has done that, because I had this debate with someone a week ago, and I said, they gave him an all of branch and he spit back in their face in the 90s. So what's your perspective? Let's hear from someone that's not involved in sports,

 

05:45

to be honest, and I think punishing you for life is just a little bit extreme. I think being able to give you an opportunity to rehabilitate, get your name back in there, giving you another option, another opportunity. I mean, so I'm like, totally against these dictators really, like

 

06:02

he bet against his own team, I understand could have altered lineups he could have altered things in order to go with the odds for them to lose or to win. That's wrong.

 

06:12

I think the idea is, is uh, but still, what did he learn by having him being set out? I mean, for ideas is like, you know, you've got a team player who's really great. Yes, he made are an owner of a team. Yes, he made a poor decision. We all make poor decisions. Yes, it was a big decision that he made. But should we really not help him? You know, recuperated rehabilitated, having them just being banned for life? I don't really think that that is like makes any sense or what is it gonna teach him? Nothing? It's not teaching him anything. Like,

 

06:45

the guy still goes to Vegas. I mean, if you know you have a problem, and you don't do anything about it, there's

 

06:50

a lot of people they know they have it. But

 

06:52

is that the leaks falter? Is that your fault?

 

06:54

Have you ever been in a casino? I mean, that what I love about it is like in the casino, they have this number one 800. I don't know what get help, because they know that there's a lot of people that are gambling that really have a problem. And do you have any people? Do you think they're really calling that number? Now, I don't know the statistics. But the idea is, is that gambling becomes an addiction, people know that they shouldn't be doing it. They know that this is harmful to their finances to their family. I mean, I had a case like long time ago, you know, where the person like committed suicide. He had gambled his shot. Oh, wow. He had a liquor store, gambled his house, he thought that he was really going to make up the money that he lost. His family didn't know anything. So he goes and tries to like bedtime numbers. And he lost everything game, went to the shop and shot himself because he had lost everything. And he didn't know how to face his family. He made a poor decision. Yes. You couldn't face the consequences of his decision. But and of course, you know, committed suicide because you couldn't face Yeah. And he left the family poor, they lost everything. So can you imagine the anger the family had? Yeah, I mean, this woman was left with three young kids. And she was surprised that now she doesn't even have the house that she was living in. It's traumatic. It's you know, and the guy was, I feel like people that take these kind of actions, they run away from their problems, instead of realizing he had a problem, maybe being able to tell his wife, maybe rebuilding again, there's always a possibility of rebuilding and getting better, but committing suicide, maybe it was an extreme measure, because he can't face the fact or, you know, having these people be banned for life, I don't really think that that is really gonna cure the problem. What they're gonna do depends if they are narcissist, like some people we know, they are probably going to deflect on the problem itself and put it on someone else's responsibility. Or they might just like, not take responsibility and not change anything and just stay in their cocoon. So I feel like we have to be able to punish people in a way where they're, we're teaching them a lesson not that we banned them and abandon them. I don't know. I'm not really into that

 

09:03

idea. I think banning and I think it's a double edged sword. I mean, you really think it's a good choice. It's a good choice for him to be banned for life. Yeah, honestly. Yes. Because it teaches other players a lesson not to do what he did. Let's look at quake we'll look at our society. Okay, you know how like they have a 3000 Katie fine or crazy? Fine. 500 whenever for not wearing a mask, right? How often do you go out and people aren't wearing masks? A lot of people aren't wearing a mask because the rules are not. They're not reinforced but implemented. That's right. If people got slapped with that fine. If like 100 people get slapped with that fine. Everyone would wear a mask. No one would differ from there because they would not want to pay the price. Yeah, okay. I understand need to sacrifice one right.

 

09:46

But that's a different scenario. Like I don't wear a mask and then they slam me with a, you know, a fee of 3000. Yes, that teaches me a lesson at one time. You know, when the pandemic was we were and we had curfew We're even naming people that we're not following the law. So that kind of teaches a lesson to the other members of the society that you shouldn't do that. But banning you from this society because you didn't wear a mask. That doesn't make sense.

 

10:13

But sports is different. Because you're affecting your team, you could affect winning, you know, the championship, just by altering a lineup or altering another

 

10:21

player. How about giving you two years off, where you can go and get rehab gave

 

10:26

him a chance, they gave him a chance, and he spit in their faces. And then they gave him another chance. And the guy, they had so much damaging evidence of him betting on his own team, that they had to use him as an example, in American sports. So everyone would falsely imagine Muhammad Ali, betting that he was going to lose a fight, and he threw the fight. How many people would lose out of that? You know what I mean? Like, so you kind of have to have those examples for everyone else in that sport. And I think all right, you know, there's Pete Rose, there's Wayne Gretzky was caught for gambling, but he said it was his wife. Oh, him, which I think is funny. He just, he blamed his wife. And I'm like, dude, yeah, for shit. That's like diffusing the responsibility. Right, putting it on

 

11:11

someone else.

 

11:12

I think Michael Jordan probably bet on the Chicago Bulls. Yes. 100%. But Michael Jordan was so big. I think they couldn't do anything. Because if they had done anything, it would have destroyed basketball. Yeah, yeah. It's true. They played it, right. Whereas baseball, baseball, I love baseball for this. They don't care. They came out with the whole steroid thing in the early 2000s. They named all the best players. If you're in baseball, and you get caught doing roids. Even if you're the biggest personality, you're going to go down like a sinking ship. But I want to go back to what you said about gambling and being detrimental to lives. It is for me, I look at gambling as I think it's the worst addiction out there. I think it's worse than drugs.

 

11:54

I agree with that. Actually,

 

11:55

no, pornography is also another word gambling, a doctor D

 

11:59

that gambling it's so hard because especially in the US, there's a casino everywhere. It's the same thing as alcoholic. Your addiction is everywhere, every corner and trying to like discipline yourself from the idea of like not being around a casino or not being around people that gamble. And this mentality of like, I'm going to be rich, and very quickly. I'm not really sure. I mean, a lot of people say that they got addicted because I mean, if you ever like seen these slot machines, they give you a reward. It's like an interval kind of

 

12:29

schedule. Yeah, right. Yep.

 

12:30

It was like they give you a little reward. And you start to get addicted because you actually think you're gonna win. And sometimes it does give you so that hundred dollars that they gave you or 1000 let's say someone winning 1000 the ideas is that that motivates you that you think you're going to get another thousand every time you go. And before you know it. They're not realizing that I mean, and it's like so hypnotic. I don't know if you've ever like watched people, which I have and casinos, they take their wallet, and they're putting every 10 like let's say they're machines because I don't know anything about table gambling. So the machines right? It's like so hypnotic looks

 

13:04

like we know doctor, he was into the slot machines or she went to the casinos.

 

13:08

But the to me, I feel like I mean for me, it does not attract me the noise doesn't attract me that stimulates. But that's all about psychology, how they have the loud music, how they have like all these lives, no clock, there's no clock

 

13:23

or time not they pumping oxygen into casinos. They have waiters and waitresses giving free drinks, yep, two

 

13:29

to three hours, you've been there and you don't even realize that then they also there's a buffet where you can earn points now and get a free meal. They'll do anything to motivate people to stay in there. And it's like, you know, the way you take your money, it's like, I remember this woman is she was like taking her wallet and just putting 10 every time like I don't really think she'd realize how time she's put that 10. So probably by the end of two hours, she opens her wallet, and she realizes that you run out of $100 $10 bills, right? And because it's so hypnotic that it kind of attracts the idea that you are gonna win. And there's like this impulsivity about this excitement that you might win after an hour, two hours. And like I said, owners of casino, they're not stupid, like, if they're gonna make you a millionaire, then they'll be out of business. I mean, that's the reason why they are in the casino business so they can make money off of people that are not, and it's usually not really the millionaires. I mean, obviously the millionaires are gambling because they don't feel like they've got a lot of money, but it's usually the middle class. Oh, yeah,

 

14:29

they chase after, of course, because they think that they're going to get the money to pay off their bills. Or I remember when I had, I had just had my master's and I worked at this non for profit organization. I had this woman I was working with for a long time, where she was like, seriously, I mean, she was on a disability check. Right? And, I mean, at that time, maybe it was like 500 $600 she could barely make her rent, but she was a big casino. And a lot of times they don't tell therapists because you know, we don't really talk a lot about finances unless they're, you know, they're also college. The financial advisors, they can do that, but and then I realized I was like, Why is she stressed every time in the middle of the month? She's got, she's broke. And you know, of course, we were offering them, it's not for profit. So it's free service. Finally, I realized that, you know, she tells herself, I'm only $20 just go to the casino and, and she lived close to one and, and she would go and $20 will end up being $100 hundred and 50. By the time she leaves the casino, she's depressed because now she has no money for the rest of the money. Yeah, you know, she didn't calculate it, because there's this wish that I'm gonna get some money today. That's the scary part. I think it's the people around you that have to realize the problem. There are people that I know, that have literally that their kids tuition fees, and book money in a casino. And it was just a revolving thing. And my friend's parents never realized they had a problem. And when he told me is like, yeah, you know, my mom passed away my sister's tuition, college tuition fees, and, you know, she's done all this stuff. And she bet her book money. And then lo and behold, you know, she'd won. She'd won like a handful of times, but she'd lost more than she'd won. Yeah, of course. It's like the rat experiment where it was like, the rat hits the button, it gets a reward, it gets food, and then it hits the button three more times, but it gets electrocuted. Yeah. But it's still trying to get that reward of food.

 

16:21

Right. I mean, that's, that's what it is. I mean, talks about these interval scheduling, right? And the thing is, is that though, the worst one that can get you addicted is that that ambivalence? Right, so once sometime, the rat got the food, and sometimes it didn't get the food. So that's like intermittent intervals where you know, and this is what gambling is all about. Sometimes you get rewarded. And sometimes you don't get rewarded. But because of the one you did get reward. So you don't know. They really, I mean, there's a lot of superstition, like, No, no, no, you use this machine. And if if it goes, it's gonna pay ultimately, it's gonna pay Oh, yeah, it's ultimately gonna pay but you don't know. If it's gonna pay you, you know, two hours, one hour, you don't know. So you waiting. And while the time that you're waiting to get paid out, right, what happens is like, everybody spend a lot of your money. So if you do get people that are like, very cautious, and they're not, so those people, like they'll go for fun. And they realize my budget is only $100, I believe. Yeah,

 

17:16

those are the smart people.

 

17:18

Yeah, but those are not the addict,

 

17:20

right? addicts will go with their bank cards. Smart people say, you know what, I'm not gonna bring my bank card. I'm just going with $100 in my pocket. Yeah, that's it. But back to my friend story. So their mother had one. She went on to winning a couple of other times. And then she went on to losing more and more. And then she had won a million dollars. Oh, she had won a million dollars on a scratch ticket. Lo and behold, guess what, six months later his brother loses her house, her car, she lost everything, everything. She had lost everything. So she lost her house. That was definitely worth more than it was sold for but it was repossessed, because she couldn't make the payments after many. And that's the thing, someone that has a gambling addiction, they don't realize how much they're actually spending. And look, I'm gonna be honest, when I was in college, yeah, I fell into the trap of buying scratch tickets quite used to have scratched tickets. And then they realize it was a sort you know, is a type of gambling. We want

 

18:22

those guys to get their five scratch

 

18:24

tickets are fun. Yeah, but when you overdo it, and you keep chasing, I bought a scratch ticket. And I was like, Ah, you know, whatever. I'll spend like 10 bucks. And I want $1,000 on a scratch ticket. You know, like, I want $1,000?

 

18:37

What is the statistical availability of that you're gonna win another thousand dollar next week or the next week? statistically, people need to understand

 

18:45

I was like, 1% it was 1%. Exactly. And I think people don't know, but I spent more money trying to win again. And it didn't happen. Like I lost more like I probably lost 3000 to the thousand at one. Good, but you keep chasing that rabbit. And unless you're really smart, and you realize it, you're gonna keep going after do. You know, there's a lot of people here in Kuwait, actually, that have bad gambling problems when they go outside of Kuwait. Of course, I met a guy who lost all of his money and everything in Egypt. And he couldn't get back to Kuwait because he gambled it all in the casinos.

 

19:19

Yeah. I mean, no, I mean, what are you talking about even here, even though it's illegal people gamble. They play cards here. They also gamble on horse racing. So the idea is that this addiction, and you know, here, they might be addicted. So I feel like it's a lot of to do with personality traits. So they might be already addicted to something else, for example, right? And then they go outside of point where there's more accessibility of gambling, and then they'll go out and be addicted to something. I mean, people with addictive personality, unless they know that they you have to be aware that I have an addictive personality or it's genetic. Or like if you've got parents who are gamblers. You probably know that you've got the addictive Gene and you should not be even trying to get into gambling because you're not going to be able to have control over it. Because that stimulation causes you to be more attracted to it because you've got the gene versus people that don't really have gambling in their family. But if you have any sort of addiction, then you have to know that because you have addiction, you have to be more careful about the way you're drinking or the way you do gambling, or people need to be more aware of what genetic predisposition they have in their family. So that way, we can be careful. If you've got a parent who was an alcoholic, then getting into drinking or drugs and thinking that no, no, no, I have no control, I'll never be like my dad, then it doesn't make sense. Because you are going to be more attracted, you might get addicted to it faster. And so people need to understand so. And I'm sure people that are addicted. And it's so interesting, because talk to someone that is like addicted to drinking, and then they'll stop drinking, but then they'll go into another addiction of some sort, right? Something that may be more safer and more legal, but good. Yeah.

 

21:03

But isn't it important also to find the triggers that cause of course trigger our addiction to spiral out if you like, I know a lot of people, you know, they live normal lives or whatever, but something will snap or something will happen in their life, a stressor will come along, and then it will cause them to bend the other way. fall back into that trap was just like the guy I was telling you about that. I want to bring on the show who has a heroin addiction here in Kuwait. Yeah, no, we don't deal with addictions the proper way in Kuwait. I think that's no secret that we treat addicts like criminals, when we don't realize it. It is a genetic disease. Yeah, true. Very true. And it's sad. It's really sad.

 

21:40

And people are judgmental. You know, nobody wants to talk about their addiction, because they know that people will judge them that being bad, or they're doing something hot or so the idea is, is that people with addiction, they don't talk about it, and then end up keeping it as a secret. And then using the, you know, whatever, the drug of choices, to numb themselves because they feel embarrassed themselves. And they feel shunned by the society, of course. So the idea of like, if we can have people to recognize that this is a disease, and that is curable, and that we can work on trying to find support system for these individuals, then maybe more people will talk about it. There are a lot of people that are having addictive problems, even if it's not drugs, it's pornography, gambling, and

 

22:26

we're gonna bring someone on to talk about porn addiction, because I think porn addiction and coade is huge. I think in the Middle East,

 

22:32

we need to talk about it Actually, yes, yes. In my experience, I've seen it a lot. I mean, a lot of times you'll see it, and this addiction starts, like, you know, early puberty, and they think that it's normal, and then they realize that this is you know, coming out of hand. And then when they get older, but also in my part, because I do a lot of couples therapy, I see it, how it plays a part in people's relationship, where he was addicted before he gets married. And now he gets married, the relationship or the intimacy is not the same as he imagined because he's been mesmerized, or in this false perception, because of what he's seen. Is this what intimacy is all about? So I think it's an important thing. And I think we really, definitely need to do a show on this, because I think people need to be aware of the seriousness of this particular addiction. And I know that, you know, I mean, for my experience, I see it a lot. But people don't want to talk about it, right? They're embarrassed, like, if you say, after a couple of sessions, and someone might say something that I'll probe into, okay, this is this a problem is not a problem. Is this like controlling your relay, especially in couples therapy, like he'll keep it a secret from her, he won't tell her that he's been watching a lot of porn, and he's too embarrassed, but then she catches them. But then the woman takes it into the idea, especially in this culture, that there's something wrong with her, you know, she starts personalizing it, when really it's not about her is about an addiction he had, that he hasn't really admitted to himself that it's an addiction. A lot of people don't admit that this is an addiction, they think this is a release, this is something that they thought it was normalized, and then until it gets out of hand or it's affecting their relationship or their intimacy, you know, it does to that. So it's the same thing as gambling people keep it secret cannot believe how many people even in the states that I worked with, they wouldn't even tell their family where they're going. Like they'll say to their family, they're working late, because it's such an embarrassment, right? They keep it a secret, they're in the casino for an hour, two hours and then later on the wife will find out that that's what he's been doing.

 

24:32

Let's try and break this down to listeners. say we have a family member that is a gamble Holic or they're addicted to gambling. Alright, let's stick with gambling for now. We'll go to the other things later on in other episodes, but let's stick to gambling. Now. We don't have the resources like they have in the United States and throughout Europe. Right. So what can I do here? What type of an intervention can take place to help that you know, gambling addict in the family?

 

24:58

I think the first thing is recognize that They have an addiction just like any other addiction, right. And, you know, the idea is, is that to go to a therapist really works with addiction, like anyone that works with substance abuse, they can also work with gambling addiction, it's, it's, you know, it's all addiction anyways. So recognizing that it's a problem, having the support of the family and being honest, I mean, you know, people with addiction, they lie so much, because they're feeling guilty. They know what they're doing is wrong. It's like their biggest secret, they worry about people rejecting them being shunned from the society. So they keep it such a secret that they've learned how to lie a lot. They lie about how they're spending their money, they lie to their family about, you know, the debt that they're in, by the time the family finds out that they are broke, or they've taken a lot of note loans, and they're in debt. By the time the family realizes that this person is not managing their money, it might be a while because they do so well covering it up. So once the family finds out that there's something wrong here, and this person has an addiction, recognizing it, and looking really for a professional help that can really target this addiction. Like you know, I mean, my thing is, like, I'm not a specialized in substance abuse or even any addiction. But there are people in Kuwait that can work on individuals who have an addiction, and we need to find those individuals and start getting treatment. Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of the support groups that the US have are like this one 800 number if you're a gambler, call

 

26:26

one 800 gamblers anonymous.

 

26:28

But the other thing is, is that what my some of the people I work with, do you know what they do is they reach out online, there's a lot of support group online access.

 

26:35

Sure, yeah, that is very true.

 

26:37

I mean, nowadays, anyways, this is the only way to be able to do it is to get support group read up on what people are saying about their addiction, read up about what helped them, again, the family has to be involved. You know, I've seen families here, like once they know that a family member has addiction, they don't want to talk to him, they're angry, they don't want

 

26:57

to talk about it. They kind of like sweep it under the rug. And I think that's the worst thing people could do.

 

27:02

I think because parents take it personal. They think that they've done something wrong, which probably they did. not wrong. Probably because most of all addicts, if you think about it, they've come from families, they're either control Yeah,

 

27:13

right. Yeah.

 

27:14

Or the family that has addiction already. You know, there's a lot of dysfunctional communication. And most of these addicts are not communicators, they worry about expressing their feelings. So they numb themselves using addictive products, right. So having family support is really important. And it's unfortunate some families here, they don't want to talk about it, because they worry about what the society will say about them, or they're so angry at the addict that they want to just like, you know, dismiss him or, you know, have him just like, kick him out or do whatever, because that is disappointing. I mean, you know, imagine your parents have spent all your time raising this child who ends up ultimately getting into heroin or cocaine or, you know, gambling. And gambling is so hard to catch here. Yeah, people do it. So under the table, right, and the first step is to recognize that have family support, look for rehab, and now I've worked with people here. They've gone to rehab like in India, there's a rehabilitation in Egypt. We have a rehabilitation here.

 

28:11

I've heard you go into the rehab here, Kuwait, you come out worse than when you went in. And that's what I've heard from ex addicts, to be honest with you. I don't

 

28:18

know. I mean, I know the guy that runs it. He's, you know, doctor I designed He's really good. He knows his stuff. I've taken my students there for a tour so I can bring kids aware because you know, a lot of these

 

28:29

kids I know previous addicts that have been to the rehab here and they've said, if you want to go to a rehab center, you go outside equate. It's true. You don't have the 12 step program here from what I've understood, no, no, no,

 

28:41

we have 12 step meetings. No we do we do is the

 

28:44

outpatient good because I heard the outpatient was crap.

 

28:47

No, not outpatient. If you go to like a na meetings, you know, you got a lot of support, where you learn about the 12 step. And we have them here. Obviously, they're not advertised as much, but we got the support. Once you are in the loop, you'll know it.

 

29:00

They have outpatient here, of course, so even even the rehab center,

 

29:03

yes, of course, the process is is that 28 days, they'll put you in an inpatient because I mean, I've taken my students there and the whole department knows me so every year I take my students because I know that college kids have a high risk of like addiction marijuana weed whatever

 

29:20

Well, I will let's let's be clear here marijuana weed. You don't get addicted to that that's on it.

 

29:26

Of course you're getting addicted to it because the one here

 

29:28

is no it's not scientifically it's

 

29:30

not scientifically we're talking about here,

 

29:33

here. It's hashing opium here. It's hashing opium in that crazy shit. But marijuana, you don't get addicted to marijuana.

 

29:39

It's not medically approved here. So of course there's addiction to it. What are

 

29:42

you talking about? You get addicted to marijuana? Of course you can. Why no, there are no addictive properties of marijuana.

 

29:48

Of course. What are you talking about the medical marijuana dynamat the marijuana that they selling here that is very, not pure. I'm

 

29:54

talking about normal marijuana that people use in the United States. You don't get addicted to.

 

29:58

I mean, we're talking about here when I'm talking In America, and we're talking about the project that they bring here, whatever

 

30:02

they bring here, like, I don't know, to be honest with you, but I know

 

30:06

I don't know either. But I know that there is an addiction, there is a marijuana addiction, there's weed addiction, there's a lot of addiction here, especially when you're in college and you want to experiment. So the idea is, is that I take my students so they can understand what services Kuwait has, because you don't get into this discussion with bait doesn't have this doesn't have this code has a lot of things. One of the thing, maybe we're not advertising it as much, maybe we're not putting it out there. But it's not true that Kuwait doesn't have this. And we've got some people that really know how to work with addiction, except that, you know, you just got to know who they are and how you can get ahold of them. But you know, there are some people that will go outside not because we don't have the services here, Mandy, they go because they don't want anyone to know that they're, it's categorized

 

30:49

as marijuana use disorder. That's how they categorize it with marijuana, hence why they have distilleries in the States. So there

 

30:55

is a disorder, there is a disorder,

 

30:57

but it's legal in the States, because the addictive properties, it's less addictive. We're talking about here, here, I don't know about the drugs here.

 

31:05

Remember, in the States, we can come in the States, because in the States, we have a dispenser, we've got somebody monitoring it, we've got it medically approved, we're not talking about we don't have those axes here. So people are getting a hold of marijuana, it's the marijuana that is going to get you addicted. It's not that medical marijuana unless you bring in some from the States, which you know, and then the idea is, is that people are going to get addicted here. They need to have services, you know, I love because my students constantly will say, if we're talking about addiction, all but in the States, it's legal, well, we're not in the state, that type of supervision we have in the States, we don't have here, the medical rules that we have in this state, it's not here. So I you know, don't compare what we have here to the states all the time, I get asked and challenged by students, but it's illegal. It's legal in the US, well, it's not legal here, we shouldn't be doing it. And you don't know what the stuff is. And that's why we have addiction. And that's why it's a disorder. And people need to understand, I work with a lot of people saying, Oh, you know, I do it once in a while. Okay, so how is it affecting your life? How is it affecting your perception? Is that affecting your judgment? Oh, no, it doesn't really affect and most of these people are downplaying it, because they don't want you to confront them and let them know that this is an addiction. A lot of people don't want to be confronted, oh, it's sure that this is an addict, you need to get treatment, because it's scary. Can you imagine like, if I'm talking to you, and suddenly you say to me, Well, you've got a problem. And all along, you've justify it to yourself that this is, you know, something, okay, because I read it in the States. This is, well, we're not in the States. And we need to really become more aware of things that are happening here, instead of trying to constantly compare ourselves to the west, because it's not. And so people that know they have a problem or family members instead of closing their eyes. I mean, it's interesting, because a lot of times parents will know something is wrong with their college kid, let's say because their behavior is different. They are spending more time in their room, or out of the house, you know what I mean? They're isolating themselves. So there must be something if it's not because of drugs or something else. But parents, I think they're afraid to confront the issue because they don't know what to do. So they become overwhelmed. And they just let it go. Making excuses or re studying or making excuses always with his friends or, you know, even though they might be legal problems. They've been caught couple of times speeding, for example, they've had a lot of car accidents. All of these are signs of something. But parents need to be much more aware. And sometimes it's overwhelming for parents that are not into psychology. I mean, but the other thing is, is that because we don't have a lot of services like we do in the US and the US is like we have them we have option obviously some you have to pay for some not but I don't know, you know, a month ago or two months ago, and I remember when we were maybe quarantine I saw something on Instagram that there's this new program that are helping with addiction, but I don't I can't remember what the name was there is if anyone knows send us a message. I

 

34:02

think the Middle East The biggest problem that is growing that no one's talking about at least America, they're talking about the growing heroin epidemic over there. But over here, I mean, since I've been in high school, heroin has been a huge problem in Kuwait. I mean, heroin and now crystal meth Chabot, it's really bad. embel and we're still not dealing with these issues in the right way. We're not having anti drug campaigns or we're not having Dare you remember dare? Yeah, remember? Did you guys have dairy in Chicago? Yeah, of course there Yeah. You know, there's no dare programs here.

 

34:38

There is a national program. And we don't have they're here. That's true. Actually, I was talking to somebody about that because you know, here the school like all because Larson is in the US. And he's like, he's getting introduced to a lot of like, you know, health and wellness things that how to say no to drugs, pressure, like things that you really need to have here. But here again, the idea is is that there is this field If you talk about something that it becomes reality, right, I totally disagree about that. We need to have these come. I mean, we've got the rehab, we have the inpatient, we have the outpatients. That means there are people that are like utilizing the services. Why don't we have an anti drug campaign? Why don't we talk about, you know, make sure that our kids understand the ramification, how this is going to affect you for the rest of your life. I think we need this to be I know,

 

35:27

and that's why I'm glad we're doing it on this show. And this is the perfect segue into our new series that we can talk about addiction and starting kicking it off with gambling. And who knows maybe, yeah, the next one we could do on steroids, because that's just as bad as any other addiction out there. steroids. We forgot these fitness people, man, they are addicted to them juices, they're addicted to their roids.

 

35:50

But you know, I don't understand

 

35:50

why do they not think steroids is an addiction this way? I don't know. When you talk about steroid, they act like it's something normal in Kuwait.

 

35:58

The thing it's been normalized. They're idiots. It has been so normalized in society here. dr. D, I've known cops, police officers, all right, that arrest people for drugs, who do steroids and don't think it's a drug, steroids are a drug? Yeah, I think it's a Class C drug in the United States, you go to jail for selling steroids or ingesting steroids. Now in the United States. It's not like before, where you could get away with selling it at the local gym or buying it at the gym. Now you're going to jail. They're treating it like cocaine in the States. And here, they're gonna treat a heroin addict worse than a guy that's addicted to steroids, who's probably engaging in domestic abuse in a lot of crazy things. Because roid rage and all the stuff that accompany and that's going to be a good episode to talk about, it's very important to educate people, because it's true. It always amazes me like, I had a friend once or somebody that was teaching with us, you probably know him if I told you his name later. And he was like saying that whenever he goes to the gym, you know, obviously, you know, I've been training in the house for a long time or my gym. But he was saying that sometimes he goes to the gym, and he'll see needles everywhere on the

 

37:03

floor, you know,

 

37:04

everywhere. And I was like, Oh, my God. And he's like, yeah, I mean, you could tell them, you know, so often that people are using steroids, nothing the addict Exactly.

 

37:13

Does a drive by

 

37:14

your daughter's school, the oxygen and the Platinum gym. That's right, the parking lot. Yeah, that is across the street from a school. If you walk out in your car, you will see the ground littered with needles. If you did that shit in the States, you would get arrested. If you threw a used needle on the ground next to a school, you're going to jail. Here. It's normalized. It's so messed up. Because when I stepped out of my car to go to oxygen I got out of my car. And the first thing I noticed is the school that was right behind me. And I'm walking and stepping on yours. I'm like, What if a kid crossed over here and picked up a needle and you know, poke themselves with it and get hepatitis C or anything or any, any disease from some scumbag that used the needle to go to the gym to you know, blow up his arms? That's something that really pisses me off. And but

 

38:03

the other thing is, is that why it's true, because I've heard a lot of these stories where people walk into the gym, especially, I mean, men's gym, you know, some of my colleagues have said that, but what I don't understand is like, okay, so you've used a needle, forget about it's an addiction or not right now, why is it that people can clean up after themselves? Like, you don't want a kid to come over? I mean, can you imagine like some of these kids after they're 14 and 15? They aren't going to the door? Yeah, yeah. You know, because you're allowed to train after 15. Right? And they're seeing it they're probably wondering the trainer's

 

38:32

are offering it to them. You have cheap steroids aren't quite Why are extremely Joe. Yeah, steroids and quais. With Wow, this is all for the next episode. Yeah, I'll give you the rundown on all this crap. dr. D,

 

38:44

Oh, I can't wait. You know,

 

38:46

I'll expose all the dirty laundry, I'll expose all the dirty laundry. I'll even tell you about the scumbag that goes on Instagram and gives out courses on how to take HGH and how to match it with steroids. And this son of a bitch hasn't been put behind bars. I've had my baseball kids come up to me and say, coach, should I try this? And if I saw this guy walking down the street, I beat his ass. I beat his ass because he is normalizing it. And he's a legal drug dealer. And to me, he's probably he's screwing up their hormone profiles. And these kids are just doing more damage to themselves when they hit their mid 30s than they even understand and it pisses me off to high heaven to be honest with you. So that's an episode in its own. Okay, don't get me going. dr. D. We know what we're gonna

 

39:36

talk about. Yeah, like that? Yes. Okay. Well, and the next episodes will be exposing a lot of people stay tuned.

 

39:46

Enjoy, enjoy. And remember, if anyone you know is suffering from gambling, look for the signs and symptoms and find a reach out program for them to join and have an intervention and take care of your loved ones. Thanks for listening to this episode. If you enjoyed it, please head over to iTunes to subscribe rate and leave a review. You can also find us on Instagram at the project Kuwait. Thank you and join us next time