For me it took a while. Even with the support of GA, I slipped several times. But the good news is that each time was with less and less damage – and I did manage a period of 3 years before gambling again for just a few months. At that time I was single and decided to put some effort into finding a partner and I did not gamble whilst with her (some 5 years) – when we split up, of course thoughts turned to gambling, but I thought “I’m hurting enough – so why should I do any more harm to myself?” Apart from one or two one-offs (stupidly seeing if I could gamble “normally” – I can’t) it’s been around 20 years stopped now.
So I would say (for me at least) there was no sudden stop – just a slow dripping until eventually no more.
If you see gambling as a way of hurting yourself – then why would you want to do it? Love yourself – do things that make you happy without gambling and beyond all else get support from people around you. Take care.