Good Morning,
I Rarely post on the forums but do regularly visit as part of my recovery process.
Anyway, My story began around a year and a half ago where i managed to wipe out most of my savings within a 3 week period. Football inplay betting was my vice.
I do still live at home therefore the consequences were not as disastrous as they could of been. I suffered depression and anxiety but was determined to find a way out. I put all the relevant blocks in place and again tried to knuckle down at work and get back to saving where possible.
However (you could of guessed it) I found a website that I had self excluded on years ago so it had expired. Before I knew it I had lost a pretty large sum of money.
The money right now feels irrelevant though, I’m just sick to death of constant gambling thoughts in my head. Is there anything out there that can help deal with these thoughts?
I can honestly say this past year, although I’ve rarely gambled I’ve thought about it most days. This is not healthy and I am scared that in the future I will do the exact same thing as what I did a year ago having absolutely nothing to show for the work I put in daily.
I don’t want these gambling thoughts, I just want to feel happy again
Thanks for reading
Hello Gary,
Welcome to the Forum. I hope you get feedback from other members too. I would suggest that you make sure that you have no access to gambling and look into installing a blocking software on your device.
You are probably experiencing gambling urges which eventually fade away when you learn to manage them in the moment. We provide free counselling sessions where you can talk to a counsellor about this. Counselling can help you develop your own strategy to deal with urges and thoughts about gambling, as different things work for different people. It will also help to speak to people around you and make them aware of what you are going through. In this way you will be able to get their support. For example, you may arrange to do something with a friend or a family member when you start having thoughts about gambling and distract yourself from them.
You may get in touch with a GamCare adviser who can guide you through some steps that can help you.
Best wishes,
Forum Admin
Hello Gary,
Welcome to the Forum. I hope you get feedback from other members too. I would suggest that you make sure that you have no access to gambling and look into installing a blocking software on your device.
You are probably experiencing gambling urges which eventually fade away when you learn to manage them in the moment. We provide free counselling sessions where you can talk to a counsellor about this. Counselling can help you develop your own strategy to deal with urges and thoughts about gambling, as different things work for different people. It will also help to speak to people around you and make them aware of what you are going through. In this way you will be able to get their support. For example, you may arrange to do something with a friend or a family member when you start having thoughts about gambling and distract yourself from them.
You may get in touch with a GamCare adviser who can guide you through some steps that can help you.
Best wishes,
Forum Admin
In spring next year gamstop are bringing out a multi self excluding service so It will be easier to stop that odd ones that pops up cause believe you me I know alot bout them
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.
