GAMBLING IS A LIE

Also, try to remove the link of money and gambling. They are two very different things. The addiction or urge we feel is nothing to do with money. Think about chasing for example... We feel stressed and all we think about is making our MONEY back! In reality, if we actually really look deep at the urge it’s has nothing to do with getting the money back. The addiction in our minds makes us really believe that the money is the important thing and that we need that money back! In fact, what you actually want is to keep the adrenaline pumping in your body. You want to continue feeling the sensations of potentially winning something. You become tunnel visioned and honestly believe that it’s the money you are chasing. You are not really chasing anything! It’s just, the more in debt you become the greater highs you receive when playing because you know that each wager is more and more dangerous to your life. It’s all about our minds and the immense addictives highs of anticipation. Really try to understand that you are not gambling for money at all. You never were. Allow your minds to be free. All my love to everyone and I hope you can defeat this 🙂

Yes it is a lie and the addiction develops on the feeling of playing. They have bottled the feeling of expectation and selling it to us as a drug.

That is essentially what a gambling addiction is. A chemical surge based on the core of human emotions. Its complex as you say joey3011 and when addicted we tell ourselves anything to get that fix again. If you know the urges then you know how strong the craving for adrenaline and dopamine or whatever makes up that flutter feeling I mainly feel through the torso and arms

I know that I just wanted to feel the sensations of the next spin on the slots which is why that form of gambling is so devastating with a spin every few seconds. After a shortish time a trance and semi numbness set in when it goes onto autopilot. I can only understand that so much emotion is going on...losses, chasing, stress, hope, delusion, expectation, fear, anger that the body trances out on the feelings

The trance was all and the money secondary. However its a several pronged danger because even thinking about the money for a second when first starting...there is a deluded arrogance or self belief based on lucky clover that I could turn £10 into slighty more or say £40 into £60. I completely ignored the odds as all problem gamblers do. Today was my day....Oh really? on odds of 1/10 for small amounts to say 1/8000 or even 1/100000

There have been some great posts about the addiction to our fight or flight mechanism. I analysed in therapy that a significant part of me wanted to self destruct as a cry for help. It was my way of shouting out that I was lost lonely and depressed. I was jaded with life and those feelings of playing became a stronger draw than meeting people or doing anything else with my day.

I had become isolated in my own world of depression anxiety and gambling. One mental illness feeds on another and i was very confused. The act of chucking two months rent money away in one session shows how ill I was.

I cant even begin to rationalise that now and I cant believe it was me that did that. £700 in a few hours. Thats the control the addiction has because I have never earnt enough money to waste a tenner.

Its difficult to describe as it is complex. You are right in what you say

Best wishes

Yes exactly. So with this information I realised that this is what is happening in my brain but it still didn’t fully answer the question as to why I kept doing it. I kept using reasoning such as.. lack of will power, unfortunate events in my life, emotional under development, irresponsibly, low self esteem. All of these reasons seemed applicable but they mainly arose from the consequences of gambling rather than the action itself. Therefore It still didn’t fully answer the question as to why. Eventually however I came to the following conclusion... gambling is a drug. (Hence the idea of addiction). If we use the same logic of drug abuse to gambling we realise that it comes down to our tolerance levels of that certain drug. I fully accept I can not tolerate the drug of gambling, just like I can’t really tolerate much of other certain drugs. I accept some people can tolerate this drug but I can not. Once this acceptance became clear and I was in full knowledge of this I understood why I kept gambling. I was addicted to a drug that wants it highs!

Joey3011 wrote:

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Hi everyone, my names Joe and I’ve been a gambler for as long as I remember. Last year I went into recovery and wanted to learn more about my addiction and what it was. I asked myself questions.. Why do I have this problem? Why can’t I control it? Most of the time I thought it had an elaborate reasoning like some emotional situation in my past, or that I was too weak to control myself. This led to a lot of self pity and low self worth. What i came to realise though is something very interesting. Something that I think every gambler should really try to understand. I had an urge to gamble and I was prepared to go to the bookies. I put my shoes on and was prepared to start walking, when I suddenly stopped and asked myself one question. Why am I doing this??? Now the initial thought in my mind was that I wanted money. That was the only thought running through my mind, I needed money. I wanted to make more money. But then I asked myself a few more times, why am I doing this??? I wrote every emotion and thought down until I got to the true reason. The true reason was that I wanted to receive the high! I wanted to feel the adrenaline flow through my body as I see the ball spin on roulette, or I see the horses on the last Furlon, or as I see the turn of the card in the poker game. The addiction therefore for all these years was lieing to me. It convinced me that I was gambling for money when in fact it was for one pure reason and only one reason alone. To receive the high of anticipation. Now really think about your urge and what it wants? It’s probably telling you to make money. It’s probably giving you the impression it wants to make money and that’s all it wants. But that is a lie!!! What it wants is to receive the high from from anticipation. We are addicted to anticipation. To risk. To the adrenaline high of uncertainty. Don’t let it lie to you and tell you that the reason you are gambling is for money. So with this information I realised that I do not want to spend any more money on a cheap thrill and it’s allowed me to rise above it. I’m still in recovery and I still get urges but at least I now know what these urges are saying. They are saying.. GIVE ME MY HIGH! That is all they are saying nothing more. We are intelligent enough to not spend any more money to search that high. Face the urge and realise what it wants. Expose it for its lies and live a free and beautiful life!

Hi everyone, i am teco from Vietnam. I am a gambler. Actually i understand that gambling sometime not harmful. But i can not find the way to escape from them. I would like to hear your sharing

Firsty, Gambling is a drug! It’s about your tolerance level for that specific drug. To a certain person gambling is not harmful, but to me it is deadly. I am not ashamed to say this.. I can not tolerate gambling in any form. I had to accept that and move forward. This included placing restrictions and realising that I am completely powerless to it. Why am I powerless to it?? This is a question I tried to find out. Well my answer would be that it’s just the same as any hard drug you take. It’s all about the tolerance levels of that specific drug. Think about alcohol or canabis for example. Some people can have a small amount and be completely out of it, where as some can consume/take more over a long period and there is little effect. I am not ashamed or feel weak that I have a low tolerance level for the gambling. It’s quite humbling to really understand yourself and realise all our brains are wired differently.This is what makes us unique. My advice would be to fullly accept yourself as you are. All we ever want from gambling is the thrill nothing more. You are more than that my friend. Acceptance is not defeatest. It is triumphant as you are fighting back at the drug and regaining choices in life. Take care