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Hi, I just read a bit of your previous thread and this one. What you say about money is pretty much the same for many people. You can use the knowledge you already have:
Make ypourself accountable for the finances. Talk to people so that they know Not to lend you money. If you have a period of abstinence and get some money together you gamble? Then who can hold that money for you?
I recommend keeping one thread running rather than starting new ones – that way all advice is in one place and you can read back as you progress in recovery.
Keep posting and let us know the positive steps that you are taking.
Keep posting and let us know the practical steps you are taking.
You talk here about ringing your old GA sponsor, on your other thread you talk about the people you are “still in touch with” at GA….. are you going to get back to meetings?Hi Similarshar, well done on looking for help. Read the other stories here, you will see a lot that you will relat to. You will also see the success stories – what are they doing that you can apply to your own situation?
You will read how barriers can help – get yourself excluded from your usual gambling sites/venues. If you gamble online get a blocker for your devices so you can’t sign up at other sites. When it comes to your parents if they had their own gambling issues then they would certainly relate to your relapse. Normally I would suggest asking them to maybe hold the finances for a while. I will let you decde on that one – if they still have their own gambling issues that might not be such a good idea. They could still help with accountability though – knowing you can’t gamble secretly is a good deterrent.
Sorry to hear about your friend, my condolences. I don’t know how recently you broke up with your girlfriend – if it was recently then maybe come clean with her, show her by your actions how you are going to change things – words and promises won’t be enough.
You need to focus on YOU though, put the barreirs in place, fill your time and thoughts with other things. A variety of thigns so you are less likely to get hooked. By focussing on YOU you will be better placed for future relationships. Keep reading, keep posting, let us know the positive steps you are taking to make your next bet less likely.
Hello and thanks for starting a thread in the Gambling Therapy forums. By posting to the forums you’re allowing the diverse and caring Gambling Therapy community to help support you through the difficulties you’re facing.
This may well be a tough time for you – particularly if you’re new to recovery, so we encourage you to post here as often as you need to, as well as making use of the online groups and the live advice helpline if you’d like some one-to-one support. We’re all in this together! If you’re a new member, you are warmly invited to join Charles in one of the New Members Practical Advice groups (Mondays at 21:00 UK Time and Thursdays at 19:00 UK Time).
The forum is a great place to share your experiences in a safe, supportive and accepting environment. By writing it all down you can start to build a record of your progress that you can look back on – particularly useful if you’re ever feeling stuck. Share as much or as little as you like – but you’re encouraged to stick to keeping to just one thread in this forum – so people know where to find you to check in on your progress or to share something with you.
The Gambling Therapy staff team don’t generally post to the forums as it is a peer support area of the site – so we’ll hand you over to the community from here.
Take care,
The Gambling Therapy Team
PS. Please take a moment to review our privacy policy and terms and conditions so you know how it all works.
Hi Tommy, well done on taking this step. My advice would be to just go in with an open mind and soak up everything they give you. You will gain a lot there, advice, strategies and more. It”l also be important though to use ongoing support afterwards – any outreach support that follows the residential, this forum, maybe GA meetings or whatever. If we need help to stop gambling then it is also wise to use ongoing support to help maintain recovery
Hello and thanks for starting a thread in the Gambling Therapy forums. By posting to the forums you’re allowing the diverse and caring Gambling Therapy community to help support you through the difficulties you’re facing.
This may well be a tough time for you – particularly if you’re new to recovery, so we encourage you to post here as often as you need to, as well as making use of the online groups and the live advice helpline if you’d like some one-to-one support. We’re all in this together! If you’re a new member, you are warmly invited to join Charles in one of the New Members Practical Advice groups (Mondays at 21:00 UK Time and Thursdays at 19:00 UK Time).
The forum is a great place to share your experiences in a safe, supportive and accepting environment. By writing it all down you can start to build a record of your progress that you can look back on – particularly useful if you’re ever feeling stuck. Share as much or as little as you like – but you’re encouraged to stick to keeping to just one thread in this forum – so people know where to find you to check in on your progress or to share something with you.
The Gambling Therapy staff team don’t generally post to the forums as it is a peer support area of the site – so we’ll hand you over to the community from here.
Take care,
The Gambling Therapy Team
PS. Please take a moment to review our privacy policy and terms and conditions so you know how it all works.
Hi Sjc,
OK, so you can’t gamble because you have no money. Great – now how can you use that? What barriers can you put in place before next pay day? Exclude from where you gamble? Accountability and limiting your instant, easy access to funds with which to gamble?
Words, promises and even intentions rarely stop someone from gambling. It is actions that count. If you take those actions now while you can’t gamble then you will be less likely/able to when you do have money.
Using support is also important – here you have the forums, groups and helpline here. Lots of other support around these days as well. Keep posting, let us know the positive actions you are taking.
Hi Val, My apologies for the delay in replying to your post. You can get a lot of support here. If you scroll to the bottom of the My Journal Forum page just start your own thread, you will get a lot of feedback and support. You can also connect to the Live Support helpline or groups. As you say – you have decided to stop gambling many times, by using support you can be stronger still. Keep using support.
Hi Pucogrande, welcome to the forum. Well done on looking for help. You now have a lot of support available to you, both here and elsewhere. I know it is a bit of a cliche but there is a saying – suicide is a long term solution to a temporary problem. There is a lot of life after gambling I can assure you. If you do ever have those thoughts though then here is a link where you can always find someone to talk to. https://www.befrienders.org/
Read the other stories here, you will see a lot that you will relate to. You will also read the success stories – what are they doing that you can apply to your own situation?
Barriers can help, particularly in the early days. You will see that many self exclude from the places/sites where they usually gamble. If you gamb le online then there are also blockers that will stop you signing up at other sites. Another barrier relates to the finances. It sounds like your family are aware of the problem so I expect someone close to you can help with some accountability. Limiting your easy access to funds with which to gamble. It would still be your money of course – accountability would just mean you would find it harder to gamble and not be able to do so secretly.
Barriers aren’t the total answer to addiction of course – but they beat the hell out of willpower alone. They give breathign space so you can start work on your recovery, finding other ways to fill time etc. Most importantly use support – you have these forums, the groups and a 1 – 1 helpline here. There is also other support – if you connect to the Helpline of groups then you can get signposted to support in your area.
Keep posting and hopefully I will see you in a group here soon. You can stop gambling I promise you.
Hi ncosta and welcome to the forum. Well done 0on looking for help.
You are not alone with this problem, read the other stories here and you will see a lot that you will relate to. You will also see the success stories – what are thye doing that you can apply to your own situation?
You will see that barriers can help, especially in the early days. Get yourself banned/excluded from where ever it is you usully gamble. Limit your access to funds so you can’t gam le easily or secretly.
Most importantly keep using help – if we could do it on our own then none of us would be here in the first place. There is a lot of support available these days, both here and elsewhere. If you cannect to either the groups or the Helpline here you can get signposted specifically for your location.
Keep posting and hopefully I will see you in a group soon.
Hello and thanks for starting a thread in the Gambling Therapy forums. By posting to the forums you’re allowing the diverse and caring Gambling Therapy community to help support you through the difficulties you’re facing.
This may well be a tough time for you – particularly if you’re new to recovery, so we encourage you to post here as often as you need to, as well as making use of the online groups and the live advice helpline if you’d like some one-to-one support. We’re all in this together! If you’re a new member, you are warmly invited to join Charles in one of the New Members Practical Advice groups (Mondays at 21:00 UK Time and Thursdays at 19:00 UK Time).
The forum is a great place to share your experiences in a safe, supportive and accepting environment. By writing it all down you can start to build a record of your progress that you can look back on – particularly useful if you’re ever feeling stuck. Share as much or as little as you like – but you’re encouraged to stick to keeping to just one thread in this forum – so people know where to find you to check in on your progress or to share something with you.
The Gambling Therapy staff team don’t generally post to the forums as it is a peer support area of the site – so we’ll hand you over to the community from here.
Take care,
The Gambling Therapy Team
PS. Please take a moment to review our privacy policy and terms and conditions so you know how it all works.
Hello and thanks for starting a thread in the Gambling Therapy forums. By posting to the forums you’re allowing the diverse and caring Gambling Therapy community to help support you through the difficulties you’re facing.
This may well be a tough time for you – particularly if you’re new to recovery, so we encourage you to post here as often as you need to, as well as making use of the online groups and the live advice helpline if you’d like some one-to-one support. We’re all in this together! If you’re a new member, you are warmly invited to join Charles in one of the New Members Practical Advice groups (Mondays at 21:00 UK Time and Thursdays at 19:00 UK Time).
The forum is a great place to share your experiences in a safe, supportive and accepting environment. By writing it all down you can start to build a record of your progress that you can look back on – particularly useful if you’re ever feeling stuck. Share as much or as little as you like – but you’re encouraged to stick to keeping to just one thread in this forum – so people know where to find you to check in on your progress or to share something with you.
The Gambling Therapy staff team don’t generally post to the forums as it is a peer support area of the site – so we’ll hand you over to the community from here.
Take care,
The Gambling Therapy Team
PS. Please take a moment to review our privacy policy and terms and conditions so you know how it all works.
Hello and thanks for starting a thread in the Gambling Therapy forums
Here at Gambling Therapy we pride ourselves on being a caring and diverse online community who can help and support you with the difficulties you’re currently facing. We understand that this might be a tough time for you, particularly if you’re new to recovery, so come here as often as you need to and participate in the forums, access online groups and connect to the live advice helpline if you need one to one support. We’re in this together!
Here on the forum you can share your experiences in a safe, supportive and accepting environment. The beauty of writing it all down is that you can take your time and you will be creating a record of your progress that you can look back on if it ever feels like you’re not moving forward. So, share as much or as little as you like but do try to stick to keeping just one thread in this forum so people know where to find you if they want to be updated on your progress or share something with you.
As well as the forums New Members are invited to join Charles in the New Members Practical Advice Group On Mondays at 21:00 (UK) and Thursday at 19:00(UK)
And on that note….
I’m going to hand you over to our community because I’m sure they will have some words of wisdom for you 🙂
Take care
The Gambling Therapy Team
PS: Let me just remind you to take a look at our privacy policy and terms and conditions so you know how it all works!
The short answer to your question is because it’s an addction. Once we have crossed the line into compulsive gambling there is no going back to “normal” gambling no matter how long a break from it we have.
I’m seing some god news here though – you already know you can “give up gambling for months.” This time though use that time to get some barriers in place, to get into the routine of using support, whetehr that is here or anywhre else. Then keep up that routine to help maintian recovery. This time you can give up gambling for months and then still be using support, still have barriers in place and be a lot less likely to return to it.
Keep posting.