Hi everyone,
Welcome to the Forum’s new topic!
We have heard your feedback, so we will be regularly posting new topics to give you the chance to reflect on your journey so far. We will be including content around topics such as gambling harms research, news articles, reflections from GamCare staff, and more.
This week’s topic is “resistance”.
For this week we are focusing on the definition of resistance as “the refusal to accept something or change”. By looking at the definition it is easy to see how resistance can be an important part of recovery from gambling harms.
Psychology Today discusses resistance as a natural process when being faced with change. Resistance happens even when we know that the change is going to be positive for us or is a necessary one. It is important to recognise when we are feeling resistant to a change and take a moment to deliberately let that tension go. For the full article, please see: https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/understand-other-people/202204/how-work-through-resistance
So, we want to hear your thoughts!
Have you noticed resistance in your journey so far?
How do you manage resistance to still be able to make changes you want to make?
Are there any things that increase your resistance to change?
We would love to hear your reflections below.
All the best,
Lulu
Online Peer Support Team
I haven't had a challenge with resistance.However there are instances where I have failed to communicate my addiction and from the feedback I got,it's as if I was justifying my gambling problem.My question is,does an addict or someone in recovery need a person who truly understands what gambling is or you just have to such it up and change without anyone understanding what you go through?
Hi Jay,
Thank you for your thoughtful response! It sounds like your question is referring to peer support - i.e. talking to someone who has lived experience of gambling harms. I'm not sure if you're asking more generally, but if you would like support in this way, I would recommend coming along to one of our chatrooms, you can find more information about the times here: https://community.gamcare.org.uk/chatrooms/. This gives a space to chat with others who have experienced harm from gambling.
Also, recovery looks different for everyone so what works for one person, may not work so well for another. There are lots of different types of support available, and if you wanted to find out more about this I would really recommend reaching out to our helpline on 0808 8020 133 or live chat (helpline is open 24/7).
Thanks again for your insights!
Take care,
Lulu
Online Peer Support Team
We are available 24 hours a day, every day of the year. You can also contact us for free on 0808 80 20 133. If you would like to find out more about the service before you start, including information on confidentiality, please click below. Call recordings and chat transcripts are saved for 28 days for quality assurance.
