This Q&A is the full interview with Dr Jeremiah Weinstock. For our deep dive into cryptocurrency trading addiction, with contribution from the full panel of experts, please see this article.
Below is an interview with Dr. Jeremiah Weinstock, a professor in the Psychology department at Saint Louis University, focusing on addictive behaviors with an emphasis on gambling disorder and exercise as an intervention. This is the full transcript of our interview, quotes from which were published in our main article on the topic here.
For an in-depth deep dive into the topic of cryptocurrency trading addiction, and its links to gambling, please follow that link. As for Dr Weinstock’s full interview, please see below.
CoinJournal (CJ): Do you think there are similarities between crypto trading addiction and gambling addiction? If so, could you please name the most notable ones?
While crypto trading addiction is not an official diagnosis within our classification of psychiatric disorders, individuals who engage in crypto trading can struggle and experience negative consequences from their trading behaviour.
The hallmark of gambling disorder and other addictions are (1) a loss of control, meaning that an individual tries to stop or cut down on their gambling behaviour and is unable to do so, (2) tolerance, needing to do the behaviour at a greater intensity to achieve the desired effect, and (3) withdrawal, experiencing irritableness and moodiness when one tries to stop or cut down.
If individuals who engage in crypto trading experience one or more of these hallmark symptoms then they are potentially addicted the crypto trading. Traders who are thrill-seeking and are trading frequently (i.e., not buy and hold investment strategy) are at increased risk of this behaviour becoming maladaptive.
CJ: In
