Hello all,
It’s taken me a long time to gather up the courage to come on this site and post about my own experience and my feelings. My name is Kieran, I’m 22 years old and I am a problem gambler. I first started gambling when I turned 18, and 4 years later im now £17,000 in debt. As we all know, we’ll do whatever it takes in order to get the funds to place a bet when we are in that frame of mind. This horrific addiction has affected my relationships with friends and family and also left me in A LOT of debt. I want to get better and become gamble free. I’ve been to a few counselling sessions but they didn’t seem to help, has anybody got any advice for me please? I’m desperate to stop. I’ll do whatever it takes. Thanks for reading and any advice would be very much appreciated.
Hi Kieran,
Your story sounds very similar to my own. I stopped gambling aged 22 after countless lies, broken realtionships and a mountain of debt. It is not an easy realisation to come to, "I cannot go on like this anymore" I remember thinking. I cannot live another day like this. I have been gambling free for 300 days now, thanks to this realisation.
In order to stop you have to be willing to goto any length to do so, theres has to be acceptance of what the problem is and an understanding that you can never return to gambling again. The way i describe it is. We have an abnormal reaction to gambling... when i start i cannot stop and when im stopped i cant stay stopped on my own. The pain and losses of yesterday soon disappear and go to the back of your mind. This doesnt happen for the "normal" gambler.
I also tried stopping on my own, counselling and numerous other things. Restircting access to money, giving family access to my accounts, self exclusion. EVERYTHING. I tried it, but the gambling and the insanity always returned. What worked for me is the 12 step recovery program and although not everyones cup of tea, the results are bearing fruit. However I can only speak from my own experience. Recovery is different for everyone although the objective is the same. I would love to be able to help you more.
B
The choice is when is enough ENOUGH. You are young and in debt and it will continue to get worse if continue gambling. Stop access to money for the short to mid term till mentally strong enough and block gambling sites. The option now is to either stop or be here in 10 years with £50k debt more depressed and realising the best years of your life are wasted with gambling.
Hi Kieran,
Well done on reaching out, dont be ashamed as you are most certainly not alone. I had councelling and tried to go cold turkey but it eventually pulled me back in as the reality was I still wanted to gamble in some form or another. GA is what has turned things around for me, there you have a 12 step recovery program to engage with and you have the support and advice form fellow compulsive gamblers.
I did have a relapse but thanks to my meetings I curtailed it and got back gamble free pretty quickly and limited the damage done. If you are open and honest you will get teh most from GA, there is no quick fix but only hard work to beat this addiction but each day you are gamble free your life will slowly improve.
If you put half the effort and time you gave to your gambling to GA you will be well on your way to recovery. I never thought I had a problem throughout my 20s and 30s as I never went into debt due to gambling, but looking back I wasted thousands of my spare money on gambling and have nothing to show for almost 20 years of working. All for the temporary buzz gambling created. Get to your nearest GA meeting and commit to it. I wish you well!
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