Latest one i have seen is Dr Andrew Huberman who has a youtube film on addiction wich tells about how we function on dopamine. I recommend that you take a look. Previous was Luke Clark who talked about chasing the near miss back in 2017.
Fact is that we believe that we are going to get the big win to get us out of that tricky spot we are in and when we win we are totally uninterested in keeping it so we spend it again and then get chocked by our behaviour when it is gone.
The day you understand that this is all about you discharging dopamine to get up and learn or do something like this addiction spurs you to do. The faster you will realise that all those thoughts feelings emotions that you have been wasting is in itself a waste of energy. All of it (the bad feelings) starts with you and ends with you. Decide to take charge and ownership of you and what you do.
You have to realise that there is no on or of button to this. There is an understanding. Getting yourself out of autopilot and into being aware of yourself and your actions. All you do is mostly on autopilot. This is where most triggers for gambling may be formed and the stress or something else may trigger that urge in autopilot. Become aware. Write things down. Have you ever written down all your gambling days in a week? Try it. There is a natural resistance in yourself not to do that reporting. Why? Your subconscious is there to give you pleasure and to protect you.
Your addiction can become a nauseatingly familiar repeat process. That is when you understand that you are chasing the chase and not the win.
The more you learn the more you take action that allows you to start doing other things with your time. Because time is the most expensive commodity you have. Once that time is gone, well thats it..
I wish you well! Watch the youtube clip it is educational.
Best
C
Great post unfortunately i feel it will go over many heads because it requires a deep level of introspection and accountability
many people that come to this forum just want to be told they are sick with a disease, it's not their fault and if they do xyz they will be cured
I have also studied this addiction at length being a gambler myself although i'm not sure i could be classed as "compulsive" as i often get very bored of it very quickly especially when losing
this means i will rarely gamble for longer than 1 hour
If i do ever get "sucked in" to a longer spell of 2-3 hours i often find i fall into a zombie like trance whereby i'm not really sure wether i want to win , lose or leave
Now and then i will go to a casino and watch other players playing tables and again if you can snap them out of the zombified state and ask a question like
" so how are you doing"
9 times out of 10 they will just shrug and say something along the lines of "up and down" and then proceed to place their aimless bets
You do have to wonder what the point of it all is because gamblers never seem to really care about the outcome of the bets they place
That is until the money has run out or the credit card is maxed.......
Well if you can imagine the subconscious mind as huge plastic ball then place a pound coin on top of it then the pound coin is your conscious mind. It can not handle that much data so we drift in and out of being "aware" several times a day. That is why many therapists practise mindfulness because most of the awake time we have we are on autopilot. Problem with having this addiction is that it is our high, our drunk and in the mist moment so controlling it without being aware of it is hard.
The way we need to look at addiction needs to be more holistic and in the moment and present. When we know everything about this addiction one can at least afford to be a little bit kinder too oneself when failing of the wagon and believe me EVERYONE fails at this from time to time. So if you recognise yourself then keep calm stand up and dust yourself of before moving forward.
I wish you well!
C
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