With the promise of treating “crypto addiction,” upscale treatment centers are popping up everywhere. Feelings of missing out (FOMO) on a chance for wealth have lead scores of individuals to make drastic financial decisions – leading some to develop addictions to trading digital currencies.
- According to experts, the treatment for a crypto addiction is the same as for other addictions.
- The cryptocurrency market’s volatility also makes it more addictive, which is why cryptocurrency treatment facilities are now more widely known and operated.
Crypto Addiction Could Need Medication
According to the findings, a biopsychosocial intervention is required because it is a biopsychosocial disease and may involve medication, individual and group counseling, changing one’s environment and habits, or introducing healthy alternative activities. But specialists occasionally claim that the cost is not justified. According to experts, it should be treated in the same way as gambling.
The initial step in treating crypto addiction, stated Ms. Lembke, should be to manage withdrawal symptoms, which include possible anxiety, rage, and insomnia. “For the brain’s reward circuits to be repaired, at least four weeks must go by without cryptocurrency trading or observing. The withdrawal symptoms can be managed if you have emotional support and trust that they will disappear quickly.
Expert’s Take on the Matter
Professor of psychiatry at Stanford University and director of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic Anna Lembke claims that the treatment for crypto addiction is the same as that for other habits. Being a biopsychosocial disease, it necessitates a biopsychosocial intervention, which may include drugs, individual and group counseling, changing surroundings and routines, or introducing healthier alternative activities. But, she continues, the expense is not always necessary. According to her and other experts, it should be treated similarly to gambling.
The head of the Centre for Gambling Studies at the Rutgers School of Social Work, Lia Nower, claims that “they are earning money off of desperate people.” “Your symptoms and treatment will be roughly the same whether you’re ‘addicted’ to trading cryptocurrency, making sports bets, or playing the lottery.”
According to Ms. Lembke, treatment for crypto addiction should start with abstinence and address withdrawal symptoms, which may include anxiety, irritability, and insomnia. “At least four weeks should pass without cryptocurrency trading or viewing to give the brain time to reestablish reward pathways. In the long run, treatment would also involve better options for financial investment, she noted. The [withdrawal] symptoms are typically time-limited and can be managed with emotional support and confidence that they will eventually go away.
How to know if someone’s addicted?
Aaron Sternlicht, who with his wife Lin runs the New York-based Family Addiction Specialist, claims that people who become addicted to bitcoin trading start to rely more and more on it for happiness and enjoyment in their lives. Red signals, according to him, include deceit, debt, trouble unwinding or falling asleep, continual attention to bitcoin values, and trading at the expense of friendships, employment prospects, and educational opportunities.
Cryptocurrency addicts frequently need help setting restrictions, such as time limits for trading and stop-loss limits, orders with instructions to close a position when it reaches a specified price, to protect investors from disproportionate losses.
Conclusion
Cryptocurrency addicts frequently require assistance establishing boundaries, such as time limitations for trading and stop-loss limits, orders with instructions to close out a position when it hits a specific price and protect investors against disproportionate losses. According to Abdullah Boulad, CEO and founder of The Balance, the therapists at the facility assist clients in creating these boundaries. However, he clarified that they don’t demand that customers give up their devices altogether or go cold turkey. According to doctors, various diseases are frequently diagnosed due to crypto addiction.
