And we try again...

Thanks ODAAT.

Sound advice as always. I actually am not going to get a new card off my bank cos I know I probably won't scratch the code off soon enough and I need to purchase stuff online and a new card would alllw me to open new gambling sites and register it where as if I tried now it would tell me the card has been registered before so sticking with this card is probably my best option. Will contact bank again today and plead they can put blocks in place if they card I'll look into downgrading. Yes your right I haven't looked at all into the 12 step. As I've said I'm very open and whilst not religious I definitely appreciate looking at situations from different angles and being open I think it really is the only way to tackle an issue like this so I'm ok with all that. I know this is completely different but for humours sake yesterday I done an experiment. I'm an avid nail biter stinking habit I know. And I thought if I can go without biting my nails It means my willpower to stop gambling is there also. Well three hours later I'm sat with my finger in my mouth not knowing how it got there. Point proven addictions and habits happen in autopilot and the need and want an urge happens out of your control so my little experiment shows me I need to get impenetrable blocks in place for me to have half a shot. I welcome everyone's tips and tricks of getting seriously blocked out of this world.

Also kel I had a flick through your diary yesterday and see you've had a bit of a whirlwind recently. I didn't know what to comment but I hope your finding silver linings and that as much as possible. Hope your good

J x

Hi All,

I'm not sure if this is even the right place for me to post this. But I have a Brother with a gambling addiciton. He is younger than me. He is smart and intelligent and has so much to live for, but is gambling addiciton has seen him fall into a large debt, and as such become short tempered, depressed, upset, lifeless. It is affecting him primarily, but also his family relationships - including myself. And I am now confused as to how to proceed and how to help him. I have been mad, been upset, been brutally honest, been calm, been logical - but nothing. In short I've tried so much, am no expert, but have tried, and the bottom line is I want him to help himself and get out of this awful mess.

As such, somebody please help me. Do you have any advice to give for a family member? How can I help? Any tools? Any recommendations? Just some motivation and way out would be nice.....

Thanks.

Mikey

Hi mike.

First of all he has to want to stop gambling. And I don't mean be depressed with it and hate it but actually physically want to prevent himself from doing it. I think I can speak for most of us cg when I say we've been in the stage of acknowledging we have a problem and wishing we weren't gamblers but not actually making the steps to put actual blocks in place. I told myself for ages I was trying to give up yet didn't exclude myself from my favourite site cos I knew I'd wanna come back to gamble. You could point him in this direction and introduce him to this site where he can see similar stories to his so he knows he's not alone and if he is ready to quit there's blocking software for his laptops and mobile that you could register for him so he doesn't know the password to get around it. Also offering help to control his finances maybe something you could do? There's a friends and family section here I'm sure they could give more insight into what they have done to help their loved ones check that out.

There's plenty of support for you and your brother here some really great people on this site I hope you find what you need 🙂

X