The Counterfeit Hero’s Journey of the Pathological Gambler: A Phenomenological Hermeneutics Investigation

Abstract

This research study sought to interpret and strove toward understanding the lived experience of 13 pathological gambler from an archetypal–mythic perspective. Through a phenomenological hermeneutics inquiry, 11 clusters of themes were illuminated. These themes highlighted a three stage mythical journey that elucidated how gambling began as regular pastime, but ended in failure in regards to becoming extraordinary and financially secure. Thus, resulting in extreme gambling behaviors such as psychological distress, family disintegration, and self-effacement. Clinical implications from this inquiry suggest that understanding pathological gambling from a archetypal–mythical perspective not only encapsulates our current paradiagms of thought about gambling, but may offer a more a holistic approach to understanding the pathological gambler as it sets its theoretical tenets in a cultural, historical, and psychosocial world.