Deaddiction centres in Hyderabad reassess therapies to tackle betting, gambling addicts

Time of India

3 days ago

Hyderabad: In a quiet room at a city rehab centre, a 19-year-old sits across from a therapist recounting how he blew through Rs 14 lakh borrowed from friends and family, on a cricket betting app.
He spent six months in rehab but relapsed shortly after.
Today, he is buried under a Rs 40 lakh debt.
Behavioural addictions like betting or even online gaming and pornography, once considered mild and treatable through outpatient counselling, have turned into severe crises now, say city psychologists. With caseloads increasing, they add how they are also reassessing treatment processes.
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'Unlike in cases of substance abuse, we cannot put such patients in confinement,' said Praveen Kearl, a de-addiction therapist and founder of the Corner Stone deaddiction centre.
'So, we use different types of therapy which breaks the habit loop that keeps people addicted. We also use cognitive behavioural therapy, gestalt (focusing on the present) therapy, etc to help them understand their triggers and change their behaviour.
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Gamblers Anonymous
But Kearl maintained that recovery takes time and relapses are common. 'In order to support long-term recovery we are setting up support groups like Gamblers Anonymous or Sex Addicts Anonymous, where they can find community support.'
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According to therapists, the average age group of behavioural addicts is between 12 and 25 years. The treatment usually spans three to six months.
Allowing parents to stay
'Since many of them are teenagers, we allow parents to stay with the child under the parental care model if the case is severe. Even short stays improve recovery outcomes,' said Siddharth Zaveri, from Zorba Rehabilitation Centre. 'Some suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), others from low self-esteem.
We use group sessions, individual therapy, and emotional regulation. If they hang on, they come out stronger,' he added.
Reiterating how parents are being involved in the process, Gideon Surya Rao, founder of Living Sober, who has about 14 young addicts of behavioural addiction, said, 'Parents often think it's 'just a phase'. But by the time they reach us, the child is anxious, isolated, sometimes even hallucinating.
For instance, a 15-year-old porn addict who locked himself in his room and stopped speaking. When his phone was taken, he hallucinated the same content.
He eventually lost partial eyesight due to obsessive behaviour and stress.'
He said that many of them are now raising awareness among parents, through drives in educational institutions, to help them identify early signs of addiction among their children.
Post-pandemic surge
Experts say that the pandemic triggered a surge.
As schools went online and screen time soared, many teens turned to the internet for escape. The pattern stuck even after the lockdown ended. The problem is only getting more complex, with young people constantly finding new ways to stay hooked, other experts shared.
'Students are now connecting online and offline, engaging in group video watching sessions and multiplayer gaming on various platforms. In one incident, a school had to ask parents to delete their children's accounts.
But how closely can parents or teachers realistically monitor them all the time?' said Devaki Rani, counsellor at Phoenix De-addiction and Counselling Centre.
She stressed the need for early intervention through awareness-based school programmes and family counselling. 'Digital boundaries, media literacy, and structured routines at home play a huge role. But more importantly, emotional needs must be addressed.
Children usually don't develop these behaviours without a trigger; there's often an underlying emotional need or stressor that pushes them toward such addictions,' she said.
'I'm currently seeing nearly 30 behavioural addiction cases a month, up from just 5 or 6 three years ago. What has worked best for us is the motivation enhancement model alongside regular counselling. If the individual is genuinely distressed by their behaviour and adheres to the therapeutic plan, recovery is achievable. We track the number of days they remain addiction-free and use that as a positive reinforcement tool to sustain motivation,' said Dr C Pradhyumma, psychiatrist at Mallareddy Narayana Hospital.