A Redditor “just dabbling” two years ago became a crypto trading junkie three weeks ago.
After secretly accumulating $180,000 in crypto trading debt, a father of two risks losing his family.”Leather Opposite2135″ posted his account on the r/relationship advice subreddit on Feb. 21, saying he started trading cryptocurrencies around 2021.
Two years later, he’s divorced and $180,000 in debt.“It started dabbling,” Leather remarked. I liked it since it’s tech. Joined a number of online spaces (discord) and observed a few individuals exchanging bitcoin and immediately became hooked.”He lost $50,000 from his software firm trading cryptocurrencies in a year.
“Skip forward another year and it got really bad,” Leather claimed, adding that his addiction had taken hold as he began using personal loans and credit cards to support his trade.I got personal loans, credit cards, and lied about it to fund it.“I gambled on my phone when I went to the restroom, when the kids were sleeping, on my computer when not working.”Leather revealed the debt to his wife three weeks ago, who threatened to leave him and take the house.
He prohibited himself from crypto, gave his trading accounts to his wife, and started attending a gambling addiction counselor weekly, but said it was hard to break the addiction.
For the first two weeks, I was emotional. Cold turkey from something I spent 10 hours a day on (minimum) […] All the while the small voice telling me to go look at charts on the shoulder.”
The original Reddit post by Leather Opposite2135 about crypto trading addiction was deleted, but it is not the first or last.Together with alcohol, narcotics, and behavioral health, rehab clinics worldwide are treating crypto trading addiction.
Dr. Anasta said, “Clinically, we have clearly noticed an increase in patients coming to therapy who express challenges in managing their crypto trading habit.”“Like gambling, many of them will claim that it disturbs their day-to-day lives, they spend a lot of time thinking about it, and may also be facing financial hardship.”
Dr. Hronis said crypto trading’s “ease of accessibility” can be “very detrimental for individuals,” like internet gambling.
“A person can be seen going to work, spending time with family and friends, participating in hobbies, and trading alongside. This implies an addiction might become severe before anyone notices.”
Crypto trading is fairly new, thus treatment is gradually catching up. “Although the broad principles of treating an addiction may undoubtedly be used here, there are peculiarities with crypto trading that would benefit from being better understood for better clinical treatments,” said Dr. Hronis.
