A problem gambler is someone whose
gambling behavior has a bad effect on their life or the lives
of people close to them - parents, brothers, sisters, and your
friends. If your gambling is causing you to fall behind in
your schoolwork, have arguments with family or friends, or
worry about money you have lost, it is considered to be
"problem gambling" and you're a "problem gambler".
Below is information from
Gamblers
Anonymous website.
What is compulsive gambling?
The explanation that seems most
acceptable to Gamblers Anonymous members is that compulsive
gambling is an illness, progressive in its nature, which can
never be cured, but can be arrested. Before coming to Gamblers
Anonymous, many compulsive gamblers thought of themselves as
morally weak, or at times just plain 'no good'. The Gamblers
Anonymous concept is that compulsive gamblers are really very
sick people who can recover if they will follow to the best of
their ability a simple program that has proved successful for
thousands of other men and women with a gambling or compulsive
gambling problem.
How can you tell whether you
are a compulsive gambler?
Only you can make that
decision. Most people turn to Gamblers Anonymous when they
become willing to admit that gambling has them licked. Also in
Gamblers Anonymous, a compulsive gambler is described as a
person whose gambling has caused growing and continuing
problems in any department of his or her life.
Many Gamblers Anonymous members went through terrifying
experiences before they were ready to accept help. Others were
faced with a slow, subtle deterioration which finally brought
them to the point of admitting defeat.
Can a compulsive gambler ever
gamble normally again?
No. The first bet to a problem
gambler is like the first small drink to an alcoholic. Sooner
or later he or she falls back into the same old destructive
pattern.
Once a person has crossed the invisible line into
irresponsible uncontrolled gambling he or she never seems to
regain control. After abstaining a few months some of our
members have tried some small bet experimentation, always with
disastrous results. The old obsession inevitably returned.
Our Gamblers Anonymous experience seems to point to these
alternatives: to gamble, risking progressive deterioration or
not to gamble, and develop a better way of life.
Why can't a compulsive gambler
simply use will power to stop gambling?
We believe that most people, if
they are honest, will recognize their lack of power to solve
certain problems. When it comes to gambling, we have known
many problem gamblers who could abstain for long stretches,
but caught off guard and under the right set of circumstances,
they started gambling without thought of the consequences. The
defenses they relied upon, through will power alone, gave way
before some trivial reason for placing a bet. We have found
that will power and self-knowledge will not help in those
mental blank spots, but adherence to spiritual principles seem
to solve our problems. Most of us feel that a belief in a
Power greater than ourselves is necessary in order for us to
sustain a desire to refrain from gambling.
Do Gamblers Anonymous members
go into gambling places to help former members who are still
gambling?
No. Families and friends of
these people have asked us to intercede but we have never been
able to be of any real help. Actually, sometimes we felt we
retarded a member's eventual recovery by giving them this
unsolicited attention. It all goes back to the basic principle
that a gambler ought to want help before he or she is
approached by us.
I only go on gambling binges
periodically. Do I need Gamblers Anonymous?
Yes. Compulsive gamblers who
have joined Gamblers Anonymous tell us that, though their
gambling binges were periodic, the intervals between were not
periods of constructive thinking. Symptomatic of these periods
were nervousness, irritability, frustration, indecision and a
continued breakdown in personal relationships. These same
people have often found the Gamblers Anonymous program the
answer to the elimination of character defects and a guide to
moral progress in their lives.
GAMBLING , for the compulsive gambler is
defined as follows : Any betting or wagering, for self or
others, whether for money or not, no matter how slight or
insignificant, where the outcome is uncertain or depends upon
chance or 'skill' constitutes gambling.
Compulsive
Gambling (Gambling Addiction) 