11 Dec, 2020
The leader of the movement "For the People", Ana Dolidze, has repeatedly stated that she wants Ludomania to be included in the list of diseases and to create statistics on the number of patients. However, it does not specify what mechanism should be used to produce a unified list, what should be the procedures for administration and inclusion in the list, which is also a very dangerous and important issue. Dolidze does not explain what purpose these lists actually serve. Its demand is not based on the best world practice in the field of gambling. Ana Dolidze speaks without any empirical research that the hardest reality will come. In fact, gambling is a game in which winning or losing is a matter of chance. In many cases, people are not addicted to gambling, they just play it for fun. This is evidenced by recent surveys in the country, including Transparency International-Georgia reports.
Whether or not periodic play develops into an addiction is determined by a number of biological, psychological, social, and familial factors and the interaction of these factors. Most people have certain kinds of habits and obsessions that are an integral part of normal life. The list of such behavioral addictions is quite long and includes: addiction to shopping, computers and the Internet, as well as eating disorders. Not surprisingly, workaholism and exercise addiction also belong to the same group of behavioral addictions. In general, any habit to be classified as a behavioral disorder and addiction must meet very many strictly written points. Consequently, superficially, without any professional evaluation, it is impossible to say whether people are characterized by certain addictive behavior.
However, when dealing with a proven psychological problem, people should decide to use the services of a qualified psychologist on the advice of themselves and / or their loved ones. It is inconceivable for the state to interfere in people’s private lives for the sake of caring for them, banning computers or punishing people for working hard or going shopping. It is just as absurd for an adult to be banned from gambling, let alone referred to as sick. Therefore, the state should not have the opportunity to interfere in the private life of an able-bodied person, especially, as Ana Dolidze suggests, the right to include fully healthy people as sick. The state should not interfere in the conduct of adults as long as they do not harm other people's lives, health or property.
As for gambling addiction and the American example that Dolidze is talking about, in the American Psychiatric Association's classification of diseases, the name of the relevant diagnosis was "abnormal gambling" until 2013, but as far as the word "abnormal" stigma is concerned, since 2013, in the new classification, this word is not found at all. . Populist statements like Ana Dolidze, which are supposedly dictated by the motive of caring for people, are in fact discriminatory and offensive. He calls every person who gambles addicted and demands that rational and healthy people be registered by the Ministry of Health. He calls on the state, not to protect its own citizens, but to encourage shame, stigma and discrimination. Particularly stigmatizing is the term ludomania, which Ana Dolidze often uses in statements or speeches. Any term that contains "mania" creates a negative attitude towards the public and becomes an excuse to discriminate against people who are stigmatized under this stigma.
Any regulation that restricts an able-bodied person to the material discretion at his or her own discretion, including the right to spend on gambling, constitutes a violation of constitutional rights and a violation of human dignity. In addition, with similar regulations implemented by the state for the purpose of caring for a person, the line between fundamental human rights and the right of the state to intervene in those rights is gradually being blurred. For the sake of caring for a person, after the state has banned gambling, the state may restrict, for example, eating fatty foods, shopping, long-term use of computer equipment. If we do not comply with all these restrictions, we will be fined, declared criminals and / or sick.