Gambling Addiction
When gambling becomes your drug of choice, the first step is to acknowledge that you have a gambling problem. Self- awareness is a great first step, but often you may need to heed the advice of friends and family who are close to you and are seeing the effects of your addiction first hand. Denial may be the first reaction, but the level of your addiction will soon be clear for it is rare that a gambling problem cures itself. To the contrary, gambling is like a virus that affects other healthy areas of ones life. The drain on ones finances and household funds may cause a chain reaction that will place at risk ones home and overall way of life.
The best prospect for recovery is when one heeds the warning signs and accepts the fact that they need help. The sooner one recognizes the need for help, the faster they can begin the road to recovery and the process of repairing those areas of their life which were adversely affected by their gambling habit. Relationships may need to be rebuilt or worse, consequences may need to be addressed if the gambling problem reached the point of criminal activity. Recognizing and accepting the fact that gambling is your drug of choice is the key first step.
Gambling Addiction
Gambling habits to the level of addiction, is also known as a condition of compulsive gambling. This type of gambling is an impulse control disorder. The compulsive gambler cannot control their urge to gamble, regardless of the fact that they know that their actions are harmful to themselves as well as others. There are no rational actions for a compulsive gambler. They cannot quit even if they are ahead. The end result does not matter. The action of gambling is the narcotic high and not the wins or losses.
There is no simple formula to being an addicted gambler. You do not have to gamble every day. It does not matter whether you can afford to gamble or not. Even if you have the means to endure significant losses, you are still damaging personal relationships. A compulsive gambler is never at fault and if there is a detrimental effect on close friends, family and associates, it is their fault and never the fault of the gambler. This problem is made even worse when the gambler does not have the means to gamble and it taxes the family finances, even to the point of pushing the family to bankruptcy to service their gambling habit.
Ask For Help, You Cant Do It Alone
When a gambler has recognized that they need help, they should not try to rely on their own methods to cure themselves. Just like a major medical infection will need to be treated with the help and support of others, a gambling addiction is no less a medical malady. For many gamblers, a key factor of quitting the gambling habit is finding other ways to handle the emotional void one feels when they are no longer gambling. What one does not want to do is to replace one bad habit with another bad habit. What needs to be addressed is the issue or issues that led you to compulsive gambling in the first place.
Each gambler is different, which requires that their recovery program be tailored specifically to them. Every individual is unique and so needs a recovery program tailored specifically to him or her. Recovery programs can be reviewed to meet the gamblers needs. A key factor in many of these programs is the selection of a sponsor who can be a confidant to the recovering gambler. Being a recovering gambler himself, the sponsor can provide invaluable advice and counsel to the recovering gambler.
Get Professional Help
Help can also be found in trained professionals in the cognitive behavioral therapy field. These professionals are able to focus the recovery on altering the gamblers unhealthy gambling addiction behaviors, habits and thoughts. This includes any false rationalizations as well as false beliefs. These types of specialists can also guide recovering gamblers on how to resist the urges to gamble, as well as how to deal with any uncomfortable emotions used to escape their reality through gambling. These specialists also assist in helping to rebuild and solve issues such as financial, work, and relationship problems which were caused by the gambling addiction.
The key goal of a treatment plan is to try to rewire the gambling addicts brain by selecting thoughts about gambling in a different manner. A variation of different cognitive behavioral therapy programs can be used in the treatment of many compulsive recovering gamblers. The recovery goal is to alter your thoughts, actions and beliefs regarding gambling in a few simple steps, relabel, reattribute, refocus, and finally revalue. The more that the recovering gambler participates and understands the nature of their recovery, the more effective the recovery process will be.