Hi Dotti,
The only answer is to quit gambling. It seems to be you are a sensitive person and the emotions of life have overwhelmed you. What you truly needed was most likely counseling. You found that gambling helped suppress these feelings better than anything else. And isn’t it great that you can just keep gambling and feel a little better until…. the next spiral of pain sets in… like you said you loose quality time with loved ones, you chase loses, you get depressed thinking about the losses.
You need to give all control of finances over to someone that you can trust and that you can confide in. If you have access to no money guess what? You can’t gamble…. It’s really that simple. No money = no gambling. Have 20 bucks available at all times or set up a joint savings ac***** that your friend can then add $20 to when you spend the first 20. This makes you ac*****able for every cent. It’s this point where you can start the healing process. Start your day gamble free ***** on here so we can track your progress. I would also suggest seeking some help. Life coach, counselor, psychologist, etc. If your not in debt then you can afford it. You lost 4k last month. If you went an saw an awesome doctor twice a week you wouldn’t;t have spend 4k on it. So what Im saying is invest that some money in your personal growth. make sense?