Gambling Addiction
The compulsive gambler starts out
looking for the short cut to wealth. There are two types of gambler. The
first have an occasional bet where they bet what they can comfortably afford
to lose and view those losses as worthwhile expenses for the entertainment
they have received in return. The second type is the compulsive gambler who
hates losing his or her money and seeks to recap their loses with further
betting. These people are life-blood to the bookmakers who cherish these
clients. Because the compulsive gambler hates losing money, they live in
hope that one “big bet” will pull them out of the mess they are in and then
they will stop.
They constantly mull over the amount
of money that they have lost and get stressed out about it. The thought of
losing all that money annoys them so they try to win it back again via more
betting. The challenge is, though, is that although they can logically see
the nightmare they are in and the way it is wrecking their lives, they still
enjoy the buzz of betting. The buzz overrides the negative side of gambling
rather like the heroin addict wanting the fix. I’ve seen people lose their
businesses, marriages and homes through excessive gambling and still gamble.
There can be no cutting down or only
having the occasional bet. For the person with the gambling addiction or
problem there has to be a clean break. A no nonsense plan of action has to
be set up where the person begins to change some of the old habits so that
the new ones can come into place. It’s not too late to stop and it certainly
is impossible. It’s time to stop kidding yourself that everything’s okay and
that you will stop before it goes too far because all you do is move the
goal posts when the old break point is broken.
I treat gambling problems in various
ways; sometimes I use TFT Thought field therapy as it can help to remove the
compulsion to gamble before any belief change work is undertaken. TFT can
rapidly reduce or even completely eradicate the compulsion to gamble so it
is a great starting point for therapy. After TFT I then teach the client
thought re-training to teach the person how to control those difficult
thoughts and after that I would use hypnosis. This all happens in the course
of about three weeks of personal therapy with the strength of commitment
from the client being the key to the success of therapy.
There are many different techniques
for helping with gambling addictions. The Principles of Life book has all
the techniques and strategies for making the cessation of gambling a
reality. Inside the book is a detailed plan to learn thought re-training and
it is explained in detail in chapter 2. For the person who cannot for
whatever reason come to see me personally this is the best option as it
provides all of the advice that I would tell you if you come to see me.
There is only more
misery and more debt as a gambler. Ponder this: in a bookmaker’s, how many
windows are there to pay your money into? How many windows are there to pay
out to? What? Are you still here? I thought you had a big decision to make!
Do not waste another penny on making somebody else rich.
