Hitting bottom before bouncing back

The weak economy is hitting people hard, and some are not handling it well. Clinical and forensic psychologist Dr. Paul Good says that gambling was a factor in Wall Street’s downfall and folks on main street are also at risk. Dr. Good says that typically when gamblers have a big loss they throw more money into the pot and chase their loss.

Good says one benefit in this crisis is people may not have the money to throw away and that might help fight their addiction. Good says “hopefully the people in the markets who have been gambling will have hit a wall and existentially been forced to confront themselves and their compulsiveness. This is why we say in the addiction field the best opportunity is when an addict hits bottom and perhaps there’s been a hitting bottom for individuals in the markets who have been gambling. Hopefully it will lead to some self analysis, some introspection and some prioritizing of more solid values and a dispensing with some of the superficial values.”

Gambling will certainly always be with us, but it belongs in a bingo parlor, not on Wall Street.