Posted by admin | Posted on 28-03-2009
Category : Self Improvement
Tags: Friends And Family, Gambling Addiction, Meetup
Having a gambling problem is a very lonely disease. Many people gamble as an escape from loneliness. He or she may think that by gambling, they could get away from the painful feelings of loneliness. This is far from the truth.
When an individual gambles, they start to create their own loneliness. The person with the gambling disorder may not realize that the gambling is contributing.. or may be the sole source of the loneliness.
The problem with compulsive gambling, especially slot machine gambling addiction is that it truly creates a tremendous amount of social isolation and shame. What happens, is that in regard to loneliness, this becomes a catch-22. The person gambles and then feels shame and isolation. The person with the gambling addiction then continues to gamble to get rid of the shameful feeling and the lonely, isolated feelings as well.
Here are some tips to avoid loneliness as it relates to this addiction:
1. Get help for your gambling problem by visiting Gamblers Anonymous or by calling a National Gambling Helpine. You will be able to get tremendous help by calling these two numbers.
2. Start taking care of your physical health by eating right, staying hydrated and exercising daily. This will also help you to feel better emotionally.
3. Start calling friends and family that you have been avoiding while gambling. Start to do this slowly and do not overwhelm yourself.
4. Go to the website Meetup.com and find meetups in your local area. Any interest that you may have should have a local meetup. You will love Meetup.com!
5. Make sure that your follow the instructions in #1 first.. and then all else will naturally follow.
6. Remember that you are not alone in your gambling addiction and that millions of others have experienced your suffering as well.
There is hope for the loneliness of gambling addiction. Your life will get better.. I promise!
Posted by admin | Posted on 27-03-2009
Category : Self Improvement
Tags: Heart Problem, Problem Gambling, Sounds
I wanted to write an article on this topic because you probably have seen a lot of articles already written on how to identify whether or not you really have a gambling problem or gambling addiction.
Most of the time you will be asked to answer a series of questions, and if you say yes to most of these questions than you do indeed have a problem.This sounds very simple.:)
I truly believe that you do not have to answer a series of questions to know that you truly have a gambling problem. You probably think I am crazy for saying this, however, I will explain below why I truly believe this.
You will KNOW IN YOUR HEART that you have a gambling problem. You will KNOW IN YOUR HEART that your life is not the same as it used to me. You will also KNOW IN YOUR HEART that almost EVERYTHING in your life has changed for the worst. You will also KNOW IN YOUR HEART that it is your responsibility to yourself and to your family to stop destroying yourself.
When you have a gambling problem you will know it,deep in your heart of hearts. Everything in your life is different when you are gambling compulsively and additively. Every area of your life will truly have changed for the worst. And you will know this in your heart without answering a series of questions.
There is help for a gambling problem, and you are truly not alone in your addiction. Many people throughout the world suffer silently with a gambling addiction.This is a silent and secret addiction because nobody can smell it, or see it.
Do not continue to suffer with your gambling problem and try o get your life back. Gambling addiction has the highest rate of suicide, and it can also progress rapidly. Make a decision to start your recovery now. Contact your local gambling hotline, depending on your country, and get yourself some help. You are worth it.
Posted by admin | Posted on 24-03-2009
Category : Self Improvement
Tags: Addiction Help, Gambling Tips, Stomach
If gambling filled a huge void in your life, was an escape for your problems, and the only thing you really did for recreation, then it may more difficult for you to overcome a compulsive gambling addiction.
There is no easy fix or easy way for said self help for gambling. If I that there was, I would not be telling you the truth.
I can say, however, that there are solutions for compulsive gambling that can be used as you help yourself get past your compulsive gambling addiction.
Here are 5 Tips On Self -Help For Gambling Problems:
1. Make a decision to stop gambling, even it is for that day. Fill your day with other activities that are unrelated to gambling.Go see a movie, have dinner with friends, go to the library, or do some shopping. Whatever you do, do not gamble.
2. Look for a counselor in your area if you believe that you cannot overcome a gambling addiction on your own. You will also learn practical self-help techniques as well, but you will have the one one support. Look for a counselor who specializes in compulsive gambling addiction.
3. Seek out a Gamblers Anonymous group in your area. Group support is important when you are looking for ways to stop gambling. Gambling problems help can be found in support groups related to gambling addiction, and this can be invaluable to you.
4. When you have the urge to gamble again, take a few minutes to visualize what it felt like for you on your way back from the casino. You most likely will feel this horrible feeling before you make the decision to gamble again. Is this what you want to feel again later today? That horrible emptiness and despair in the pit of your stomach. This visualization is a powerful tool.
5. There are some wonderful self-help books and courses on how to overcome a gambling problems. These self-help books for gambling problems can be brief and to the point, and also more intense, depending on what you choose to help you with your compulsive gambling addiction.
It is hoped that some of these tips on how to overcome a gambling addiction were helpful to you. As stated previously, solutions for compulsive gambling do exist, and it is possible to recover from your gambling problem.
Be patient with yourself and make that courageous decision to quit gambling. You will be glad you did.
Life is better when you stop gambling.
Michelle Tee
Posted by admin | Posted on 24-03-2009
Category : Self Improvement
Tags: Bad Habit, Different Things, Truth
Why should you stop your gambling habit now? After all, it is fun for you and it provides a great escape for you. You work so hard during the week, and do you not deserve some fun?
The truth is that gambling habits that start off as recreation can turn into full-fledged gambling addictions and gambling problems. Not everybody who gambles for fun will become an addict. However, there are some good reasons to stop gambling now.
You will prevent yourself from developing a full fledged gambling addiction if you stop your gambling habit now. If it is just a habit, but your trips to the casino have been increasing, you may actually have a strong chance of developing an addiction.
If you stop gambling now, you will most likely realize that you have other interests that you have been neglecting. Gambling can take you away from more creative pursuits because of its’ powerful, mesmerizing, and addictive nature.
When you stop gambling, you will most likely focus more on your current responsibilities and realize that you may have been procrastinating different things in your life. Gambling has a way of pulling you out of the reality of life, even if it is just a bad habit and not a full fledged problem.
Stopping gambling may make you also get more in touch with your true feelings and emotions. When you gamble, you can become numb to your feelings. Gambling has a way of putting you in a dream world, and stopping you from being authentic and honest with yourself and how you feel.
Lastly, if you stop your habit now, you will save hundred to thousand of dollars per year. Even if your gambling is just a bad habit, and had not progressed to a gambling problem, you will still save a lot of money. If you add up how much money you have spent on your gambling in the past year, it may be a lot more money than you thought!
As stated previously, having a gambling habit does not necessarily mean that you have a compulsive gambling problem. It does, however, indicate that you are more at risk for developing an addiction. If you stop now, you will see various areas of your life start to improve significantly.
Gambling is one of those increasingly common marriage problems that are often over looked despite over 50% of compulsive gamblers having been divorced. As with many bad habits, gambling has a real negative impact on family life with the habit often leading to serious financial problems as well as neglect of partners and children and sometimes proving to be a catalyst for abuse.
The National Gambling Impact Study Commission reported that more than 15 million Americans have a serious gambling problem often generated from boredom, a need for change, the adrenalin rush or as a result of marital or family conflicts. Gambling is becoming an ever increasing marriage problem and it’s a bad habit that has serious consequences with regard to family and personal life.
Very few people have any kind of understanding of the devastating impact that the gambling habit can have. Gambling is one bad habit that if it grabs a hold it takes over your entire life, wrecks you marriage, alienates your family, leaves you in financial ruin and destroys your life. Like alcohol abuse, gambling is often a root cause for domestic violence and child abuse. Gambling starts as just a bad habit, something that you do when you’ve got some spare time but it quickly worms its way into your routine and becomes and all encompassing and hard to break addiction that rules your life.
The escalating habit has been made worse with gambling becoming even more common as a result of the onset of internet gambling. There are now around 1,700 gambling websites all vying for business and just waiting to encourage more and more people into the regular gambling routine. Online gambling is a really bad habit to get into with the 24/7 access from the comfort of your own home, the loss of the sense of reality when gambling away money and the ease at which the gamblers can add more funds.
Research has shown that online gamblers are more likely have the most serious gambling habits / addictions and the families of those addicted suffering a greater intrusion into their everyday lives.
For some a roll of the dice, spin of the roulette wheel, yank of the slot machine lever, or the shuffle of cards is an occasional jaunt of pleasure. However, for others it becomes a habitual compulsion (gambling addiction) that destroys their family life, finances, and career!
Over the past decade or so, the sixty for thousand dollar question has been; what causes a gambling addiction? Is it a disease? Is it caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain? Well, the mainstream disease theorists would have you believe that it is, but I beg to differ! First and foremost, there is no pathological test to diagnose a chemical imbalance. In fact, there is no empirical evidence to even prove that it exists. It is purely hypothetical and is subjective to each and every clinician. And moreover, the very notion that a disease oriented co-dependence theory could be applied to a compulsive behavior such as a gambling addiction is preposterous. Would the disease theorists have us believe that a chemical in the lever of a slot machine addicts a person to gambling? Or, would they have us believe that a chemical substance in a deck of playing cards seeps through ones fingers and traps them hopelessly in a life of thrills and spills? I don’t know about you, but I’m not buying it!
So, what exactly is the root cause of a gambling addiction? Unlike drugs or alcohol, gambling is obviously a compulsion rather than a substance. And despite this stark contrast between substance abuse and habitual compulsions, the basis for the addiction is one in the same. As with any addiction, a compulsion generally makes people feel better or happier, and it diverts them from their emotional pain. For those that gamble habitually, it’s not a substance but the feeling of power, the thrill of winning, or the excitement of high stakes and chance that diverts them from their emotional pain. However, the thrill of victory quickly turns to agony of defeat when snake eyes show up, or they bust at blackjack and inevitably arrive at a point of financial disaster!
Now, at this point, you may be wondering what causes the emotional distress that leads to gambling addiction. Well, experience has taught me that the root cause of every addiction is the emotional trauma caused by family dysfunction. In fact, as an addiction recovery coach, I have never seen one case that wasn’t rooted in patterns of verbal abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, parental control, part-time parenting, or drug and alcohol abuse. So, take a moment to self-reflect. What emotional issues are you trying to divert your attention from? Have you been abused, controlled, or unloved? What are you failing to change or to take responsibility for in your life? These are the questions that must be answered. Do you want to change your life? Do you want to pull yourself up by the bootstraps and get on with it? Regardless of what others say or what you may tell yourself, you have the power to make choices!
Here’s what you should do
1. Make a decision right here and now to do whatever it takes to deal with your emotional issues and change your life.
2. Turn over your finances to a trusted family member or friend. Someone that can pay your bills and buy the necessities. Establish a date in writing, preferably 60-90 days that they will turn the reins back over to you, with the understanding that if you haven’t stopped gambling or you return to it, they will not!
3. Uncover and confront the root cause of your gambling addiction. (family dysfunction)
4. Re-discover yourself through self-reflection.
5. Be prepared to change your lifestyle and your friends.
Regards
Families of Those With A Gambling Addiction
When a family member has a gambling addiction it can effect the entire family unit negatively. The family member with the gambling problem creates tremendous tension within the family unit that can effect all members of the family in a variety of ways.
Children of those with a gambling addiction tend to suffer the most. In severe cases, children of those with a gambling problem are brought to the casino and are waiting on the sidelines for hours while their parents are in the casino gambling. In more extreme cases, many children are left in the car while their parents are in the casino throwing out all of their hard-earned money.
Studies have also shown that the family member with the gambling problem can also become extremely verbally, physically, and emotionally abusive due to the stress of the addiction. This can be devastating to young children and adolescents as they are trying to succeed academically and socially.
The financial ramifications for families can also be devastating as well. Money that is supposed to be used for food, gas, shelter, medical bills, and other necessities becomes unavailable as it is squandered away by the gamblers. Debt piles up very fast, and the financial future of the family becomes severely threatened.
Many families who file for bankruptcy have been the result of having a compulsive gambler in the household gambling away all of their savings and credit. It is a tragic state of affairs that leads to homelessness, despair, and worse of all suicide.
If you have a loved one who is in the grip of this horrible addiction, intervention is imperative. The first thing you can do is reach out for help. I put some resources below that can help you get started so you can help your family get on the road to recovery.
Gam-Anon: gam-anon.org
1-877-727-5050
Gamblers Anonymous: gamblersanonymous.org
1-877-727-5050
National Council on Compulsive Gambling: ncpgambling.org
1-800-422-5700
Posted by admin | Posted on 01-03-2009
Category : Self Improvement
Tags: Bankruptcy, Households, Tension
Gambling addiction is a major problem, it does not only affect you, but it also affects the whole family and close friends around you. It can create a massive amount of tension and friction between close members of the family and friends, in a different variety of ways.
If you have children in the family, although it does not seem like it, kids have the hardest time and tend to suffer the most (If you have heard of the saying, that children see and hear everything, then it is totally true). Some children are even brought to the casino and left outside while there parents or guardians go to feed there addiction. Instead of spending there money on there children, these people would rather spend all there hard earned cash in the casino.
The spending of money is not the only devastating affect that this can have on kids, they can also suffer from other kinds of abuse such as verbal, physical and emotional. As these people tend to suffer from an enormous amount of stress, which will effectively make them angrier and more anxious.
Besides from this, another worrying aspect is the financial side of things. Basically the money that is meant to be used for food, drink, gas and other utility bills is being thwarted on this addiction. Once this money has finished the gamblers then proceed to take out loans and other financial debts, which will then accrue and the financial debt will just further pile up.
When most households declare themselves bankrupt, the usual underlying cause for this is from compulsive gamblers that live in the home. Once they have stripped the house from all of the financial assets, there is no other choice then to declare bankruptcy.
Gambling can be a very fun sport if played socially, once you feel yourself getting drawn into an addiction then you should pull back and stop. If you are already suffering this fate, then there are various classes and seminars that you can attend to help you get started on the road to recovery.
If you care about your family, you would not put them through such a heart wrenching situation, as it could also end up causing the whole family to get a crack down the middle and split apart. Diving into the deep end of the water without a family member will cause unprecedented strain on yourself which could end up causing you a variety of health problems.
It is estimated that as many as 5% of the adult population is at risk of developing gambling problems such as compulsive gambling. Many people find relief from this progressive illness by attending and taking part in meetings and a twelve step program such as the one offered by Gamblers Anonymous. Most therapists agree that using several forms of therapy to combat the problem of compulsive gambling offers the best chances of success.
Other than a support group such as GA, private therapy is also useful. Another method that shows great promise and offers the compulsive gambler some comfort and relief from the torment of the urge to gamble is guided meditation for relaxation. It is an easy way to program his or her own brain with a positive message that replaces the urge.
Meditation has been shown to relieve stress, as well as improving self esteem, and mental functions such as concentration. Meditation, like hypnosis, and certain applications of bio-feedback, as adjunctive therapy, has helped many people with addictions to relax and feel good while lessening the compulsive urges to satisfy their addictive behavior.
People report feeling better after meditation and feeling more relaxed throughout the day. Some report sleeping better and being able to concentrate and think more clearly. Meditation is easy to do, there is no way to fail at it, so people quickly get the benefits from it and often report feeling better after their first half hour. The effects also seem to be cumulative getting better and better the more the client meditates.
Some people join groups to meditate while others learn by doing it privately in their own homes using cds or MP3 files such as the ones that can be downloaded from the internet or even listened to online at… guided meditations for gambling problems.
The biggest benefits seem to be that they may be taken almost anywhere and used by listening to an MP3 player and headphones. That person wearing headphones and riding beside you on a bus or plane may be listening to a relaxing guided meditation and easily programming his or her mind to calm the urge to gamble or do some other destructive behavior.
The key to successfully using these relaxing guided meditations is repetition and a positive attitude. Because they are so simple to use many people are now using them on a daily basis.
Posted by admin | Posted on 22-02-2009
Category : Self Improvement
Tags: Gambling Addiction, Hypnotherapy, Odds
When you need compulsive gambling help you may not know where to turn. There is a certain stigma that goes along with admitting you need help with this problem. As a result there are many who never admit the need for help and find themselves deeper and deeper in trouble and debt. If you suffer from a compulsion to gamble there is help, in the form of treatment that is available to you in a manner that allows you some degree of anonymity that is increasingly lacking in gambler’s anonymous groups today.
Overcoming Addiction to Gambling
Any addiction is a painful thing to admit and often takes a lot of work, love, and support to overcome. The sad truth though is that these things are often in short supply by the time you admit you need compulsive gambling help.
Most of the time you have borrowed money, overstayed welcomes, and driven away those who love you most before you decide to get the treatment you need to overcome your addiction. Gamblers are some of the most difficult people to help overcome their compulsion but often have the most to gain by doing so.
Identifying the Problem
Most compulsive gamblers do not believe they have a problem. They believe they have fallen on hard times or that the next big hit is just around the corner. The problem is that it might be. The odds of that though are generally slim. Gambling draws people in with promises of wealth and then quickly breaks those promises.
The compulsive gambler though is no longer lured by the promise of the big hit. Instead, you are compelled to roll the dice one more time. If you win though, you won’t be able to walk away. Instead, you will play it all back.
Getting Help with NLP
Neuro-Linguistic Programming is a great way to give you the compulsive gambling help you need to get your life back on track. Gambling has taken so many things from you, it is time you get the help you need to treat this problem. Gambling addiction hypnotherapy has proven to be very successful in the past for treating this particular compulsion.
Self-hypnosis can teach you to turn off the mental triggers that compel you to gamble and replace them with some sort of positive behavior. This type of behavioral modification can be exactly what is needed to get your life back on track. Putting the mind back in control of the body is the only way you can truly overcome addiction and retake control of your life.
You can become your own support system and will never need to feel as though you are walking through the lonely road of addiction by yourself again. Self-help hypnosis recordings can be the key to putting your mind firmly in control of your addiction once and for all. They also supply the support system you are probably lacking as a result of your need for compulsive gambling help; are you ready to make huge changes in your life?
