How crypto trading can become a lifelong addiction

Castle Craig Hospital opened more than 30 years ago in Scotland, UK to treat alcoholism and other forms of drug and behavioral addiction – it now offers rehabilitation programs for cryptocurrency addicts.

A 29-year-old on the show – who asked to be identified as Roy and said he was from the Netherlands – explained that he had a history of abusing alcohol and other drugs, finally got clean in 2017 and got a job as an addictions counselor for nearly four year.

But when he discovered cryptocurrencies in 2021, he said he saw a unique opportunity and invested a few thousand dollars in Binance’s BNB token, which turned into $8,000 in two weeks.

“I think that initial success basically gave me a sense of control, of power, of unlimited potential because there’s no limit to what you can earn,” he said Discard in an interview. “It’s an incredible feeling to sit behind the computer screen and just see the number go up and up and up and up every day. And yes, it got me pretty bad,” Roy said.

People seeking help for crypto addiction at Castle Craig are not just isolated cases. The AAVE UK-based crypto lending and borrowing platform started a rehabilitation program in Zug, Switzerland in 2019 for people addicted to cryptocurrency trading. AAVE said in a press release that the mental and physical health of many people is at risk and they wanted to help the community.

An effort too far

At Castle Craig, compulsive crypto trading is treated as a form of gambling addiction.

“When you cross that line into [crypto trading] addiction, it is exactly the same as gambling. It’s the constant need to either act or bet, says Tony Marini, Senior Specialist Therapist at Castle Craig, who leads the Addiction Therapy Program for Gambling, Gaming and Cryptocurrency Trading.

“It doesn’t matter about the money, you know, it’s about getting that trade going. It’s about betting on it, said Marini Discard in an interview.

The “incredible feeling” Roy refers to is quite familiar to Marini, who speaks from experience as a former gambling, alcohol and cocaine addict who has been in recovery for 17 years.

“It’s the excitement, the volatility of going up and down and seeing it, that produces the adrenaline, the endorphins, the dopamine that my brain says, I really like that,” Marini said. The possibility of wealth breeds imagination and a desire for a better life, and when investors chase that imagination, they cross into addiction territory, he said.

See related article: The problems with crypto trading – and how to solve them

Lia Nower, professor and director of the Center for Gambling Studies and Addiction Counselor Training (ACT) Program at Rutgers University, says addictive behavior overwhelms other activities.

“When you start to care about this [crypto trading] more and more on a daily basis where your thoughts about trading intrude into other life activities, responsibilities,” that’s a sign of addiction, Nower said Discard in an interview.

Another indicator is “chasing”, where investors keep pouring more money into the market in hopes of winning it all back. More rational traders are cautious, switching to other investments or investing what they can afford to lose, Nower said.

But “a person who gambles on cryptos will say, ‘Oh my God, I lost all this money. There’s no other way to get back. But crypto is going to take off again. So I’m going to pour more money.’ »

That fits the pattern for Roy, who began expanding his investment into meme coins and other cryptocurrencies, and because he got in before the all-time highs last year, he said he was able to turn $3,000 into about half a million dollars.

He then lost everything when the market crashed this year, became depressed, returned to drug use and ended up seeking help at Castle Craig.

See related article: Crypto trading volumes fall to 18-month lows amid bear market

Ups and downs

“I just got hooked on the rush it gave. I mean, the first $100,000 was just crazy. I never knew it was possible to make money so easily because it is easy, said Roy.

“All that money inflated my ego … I thought I was better than anybody. I thought I’d made it. Nobody could tell me anything, he said. But when his investments withered this year, Roy said he became “a shell” of what he was before.

Gambling addiction is seen in the mental health profession as process addiction, like sex addiction, where people compulsively follow a certain process or activity.

“And believe it or not, they’re not in it for the money,” said Theo De Vries, CEO of The Diamond, an addiction rehabilitation facility in Thailand.

De Vries said a cocaine addict will use up everything he has before thinking about anything else, such as resting. “And it’s the same with gambling addicts,” he said.

Gambling addicts aren’t necessarily happy when they keep winning because they’re not doing it for the money, De Vries said. “They are happy when all the money is gone, because then they have the same feeling as that cocaine addict when the coke is gone, and they think: OK, finally I can go to bed.”

This is why crypto trading addicts find it difficult to cash out, De Vries said. Roy said he didn’t cash out because he saw it as a chance to earn enough to be jailed for life.

“I took that money [profits] and just spread it over several projects. I thought, if I could do this with one project, why not with 10 or 20 projects?”

Roy said he thinks he was “lucky” as he only lost unrealized profits, but crypto trading addicts lose more than just money.

red flags

Addiction becomes the most important thing in your life, De Vries said, and it damages work and social life, financial health and relationships with partners and family members, he added.

Castle Craig’s Marini said drug addiction is easier to detect, but the signs of addiction to gambling or crypto trading are anxiety, depression and panic attacks when the markets turn against an addict.

Then they start borrowing money, lying and manipulating, which is the downward spiral that can lead to suicidal thoughts, he added. Addicts typically become isolated and withdrawn, neglecting personal relationships, social life and work responsibilities, Marini added.

There are “trouble with the law, work, family, friends, emotional breakdowns, hopelessness, a lot of self-harm, starting with and obviously secondary addiction and chronic depression,” he said.

“We’re seeing a big increase of people coming in with some kind of crypto trading that has been unhealthy and taking them back to drugs and alcohol or just gambling,” Marini said.

Recovery

As with any addiction, the first step to recovery for crypto trading addicts is realizing there is a problem and seeking help, Marini said, adding that it is often family members who discover the problem and seek help while the addict remains in denial.

Addicts who enter programs like those at Castle Craig go through one-on-one as well as group therapy sessions to identify underlying issues that may lead to addiction, such as past trauma or depression and other mental health issues.

These underlying issues become the focus of treatment using therapies such as cognitive behavioral therapy as well as dialectical behavioral therapy. Marini recommends complete abstinence from crypto trading to avoid relapse, just as is the case with drug addiction treatment.

In fact, to avoid becoming addicted to crypto trading, Marini advises people to “sell what you have and don’t go back to it.”

However, “crypto trading is not inherently addictive. So if just a random person starts trading, it doesn’t mean they’re hooked,” says Jan Gerber, CEO of Paracelsus Recovery, an addiction treatment center for high-net-worth individuals based in Zurich. Switzerland. Discard.

The people who need to be careful are those with traumatic experiences, a history of addiction in the family, depression or those who experience stress to the point of burnout, Gerber said.

They are “more susceptible to getting hooked on these positive chemicals [in the brain like dopamine] than they get from the volatility of actually being invested in the crypto market, and especially when they win.”