Has anyone tried to keep the game going without placing a bet or money? Ie play on slots in "fun" mode without using money? Why am I asking? Well, the mind has been trained by you in producing up increased dopamine levels in the brain. That is what keeps us focused on the game and losing money till it is gone we are mesmerized.
When we stop gambling and go cold turkey the brain becomes without this dopamine and I assume that in some natural way there is a withdrawal symptom somewhere that we will feel and if it is just serotonin and depression that it is baked into the main withdrawal we feel then fine, that is that, but what would the body reaction be if one continued playing in fun mode forex 1 solid month without putting in a penny in the machines? I assume you will get a smaller dose of dopamine than usual. Your system would be utterly bored of slots as it is actually a quite boring game without placing a bet to etc.
Could be a way to soothe past the hard push for abstinence that a lot of people can not handle very well?
I am curious what you think. Have an open mind. This is not to alter any course you may have atm. It is to allow your mind to get better on its own time (dosing down idea). During my many years as a recovering addict, I have not heard that one come forward as an option too many times so I wanted to throw the question out there.
Have a good Sunday!
Best
C
Hi, for me personally it's a big no no, I had the same feelings that real slots give and in fact whilst my husband was away I played on his poker account.....fake chips I lost the entire £34000000 that he had and I felt the same feelings about telling him and the desire to lie about it !! So no good for me I steer clear of anything like that it's not worth it . Would be interesting to know though if anyone else finds beneficial
Personally a big no no .... the temptation to think ..."wow I'm good at this... I could solve all my debt worries playing real money" would be to easy. I would advise to try and find a hobby or something you enjoy so this could be the substitute for the time playing even if that game is with fun chips etc.
I hope this help in some way, have a good bet free Sunday too ?
Hi. Hard to say really. I did it before I gave up but the novelty didn't last very long. I've not gambled for a short while and haven't thought about doing the fake play since. Maybe it's the "what's the point" scenario. I'd also now be a bit wary of becoming exposed to it again as I'm not that strong willed. It's an irerestING question you pose.
I think Its not worth the risk at all could trigger someone to gamble its best to stay clear. Even though its free your gambling fake money so its the same process its not worth it and if you won you may think well what if i won that on real gambling it is just not worth trying in my opinion. As paul said it would be worth trying a new hobby instead or better to distract self from gambling all together.
If you think of what you're saying in terms of say playing a new app, for my experience my behaviour was the same. Okay I wasn't losing money but I lost time and started lying, and in terms of the free to play slots, it wouldn't be long before I felt like I could control it because I can control these free to play games.
For me it's total abstaince and also soft games too, so no free play, no bonus money, no picking winners but not actually betting on it.
No one ever hurt themselves through a cold turkey withdrawal for gambling and to suggest it is a way goes against the principle of stopping gambling.
Chris.
Thank you all.
I agree that abstinence is key when choosing a new direction but we are habitual animals. We learnt these games by repeating the action (we were also conditioned to do so by the industry) so it is not unlikely that some day there will be someone who counteracts the behaviour by making you repeat another one. Nicorette is a good example. I can see perhaps a casino of the future where you never lose any money but you can keep the behaviour going. I am not saying that it is the right way but I do believe that there is great progress in different types of rehabilitation and we may see some weird and wonderful ideas that we nether thought of.
Have a good evening!
C
Great one to throw out there. I have deep reserves of will power but I also have a compulsive side to my personality. To cut a short story long, I gambled with free money I won about 21 years of age, ended up with a gambling addiction, lost everything and some more. After hitting such a low point I then went 8 years + not gambling, choosing will power over posting on here or meetings.
What got me back into it after 8 years is just what you describe, I thought I could get back this urge I crave by creating an online account and playing in free poker tournaments that gave £5 to the winner. My idea was to never gamble again but use the free £5 every so often to bet on football. I had to continue to use will power not to gamble but at this stage the buzz was back and without losing money I was losing life time and getting into bad habits.
Fast forward 12months doing free stuff I caved and gambled and once I had I gambled lots, I had gambled loans, missed mortgage payments, gambled my wages within the first few days of the month and had to break down in front of family for help and to stop.
So I would say no it doesn't work.
But as you asked for an open mind, if it doesn't work if like me getting you back into gambling, I think it could only work if you use it for a specific amount of time when coming off gambling and then wanted to stop altogether, but the day you go back to 'free gambling' your almost certain to cave in like me.
Hope this makes sense
Steven
Hi c43.
Leave them alone and ask yourself why you have thinking about or have been attracted to them.
Its for all the wrong reasons I can assure you. A healed mind is not remotely interested in them and would not go anwhere near them.
A recovering gambler should fairly quickly realise that they are meaningless garbage. It just keeps the gambling feeling festering away and its not even about someone else sticking it to the man because the videos are misrepresentations of the true financial situation. Nobody sticks it to the man on slots because their guaranteed profit is built in as a percentage of the take.
The other key point is without the money element it should rapidly become obvious how boring and meaningless it is. The money element provides a large part of the drug of expectation so without that it becomes pointless anyway as it wont provide the dosage of drug youve been used to...therefore ALL it can do is play on your mind to go and do the "real" thing again.
Focus that the You tube videos are lies. You dont know their financial situation or how they are paid by the gambling dens or paid for views. Some of them are little rich boys working their way through an inheritance or financiers pretending to be the boy next door.. we've all seen little "bonus" games but its meaningless when I still gambled away the price of a house....get me?
The way we stick it to the man is by rejecting gambling altogether and that is now your aim in recovery.
I dont want to overtalk it though....leave them be, delete any links and go and do something else straight away
Best wishes from everyone on the forum
(@joydivider) My asking this is purely scientific. I am done with my gambling as I have managed to change my neural pathway which means in short that my triggers and urges are gone. But I appreciate your answer as I think the replies here reflect a similar type of thinking towards chasing the dragon (addiction) and it tells me that the only peace you will truly get is when your brain has created that neural pathway for you to think differently about your addiction altogether.
Hope that makes sense.
Best
C
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