"learn the stock market or have sex at brothels."
"gambling will not be addictive then"
So you are suggesting he trade one addiction in for two different addictions? You should really put more thought into your comments when some one is crying out for help.
It doesn't matter if the guy has lost thousands or hundreds of dollars. They say you shouldn't gamble unless you do so with a small amount, and only with money you can actually afford to lose with out causing yourself financial troubles.
My guess is that several of the people commenting here have gambling addictions and refuse to admit themselves that they also have a gambling addiction.
I HAVE A GAMBLING ADDICTION. I don't gamble on line. Luckily I've managed to stay away from the online sites, but I play the Casino game CRAPS all the time and I can tell you I have lost thousands of dollars over the years.
This addiction has affected my life in many ways. I quit my job in 2009, the best paying job I ever had, took out my retirement money and lost a good portion of it on both the Stock Market and in the Casino's. Since then I've had other jobs that I took, made some paychecks, quit, then proceeded to think I could once again make a living in the casino's. Sure at times I had my winning streaks, but in the end the results ended up the same. I would lose all my funds and go back to square one, which would be to look for another job so that I could make some more money to fill my gambling addiction.
Has this affected my family? Absolutely! My wife doesn't trust me any more and I can't blame her one bit. She has tried her best to hide money from me, started her own banking account, yet I still find the funds. That's how bad a gambling addiction can be people. It's not something you can turn off or on at your own will. In fact, that goes for any addiction. It's not something that you can go to a shrink for a few weeks or to a group session once or twice and say you are cured. Once you have a gambling addiction it stays with you, just like being addicted to drinking, drugs, sex, etc....
It takes more than YOU to beat any addiction. No one can beat an addiction on his or her own. It takes a support group to help. That support group can be family, friends, strangers or a mix of all three. Those people need to know though that they have to be committed to you for years, because being there for a day or a week doesn't cut it for a person who has an addiction and is finally crying out for help.
Likewise, when you are ready to admit that you have an addiction, then you must be ready to beat the addiction. AA members who have been clean for years will tell you that every now and then the desire to drink surfaces. They will tell you that they have to find the support to help them through the tough times. Just because you seek help, get it, and beat the addiction for a while doesn't mean that life stops. Life at times for what ever reason can be very depressing. Something small can trigger a depression in a person. Depression is ugly, and people with depression often seek out something to fill the void of the pain or sadness they feel like drinking, multiple sex partners, gambling, drugs, hurt themselves, etc...
When that happens you can literally see a person change in front of you physically, mentally, emotionally, and financially. Those people are actually crying out for help, but we often ignore the signs because the normal every day person doesn't want to get involved. Those people that step in and try to help, those that refuse to go away, are the ones that really care and love you. It might be a family member, a friend, or a co-worker. We might be mad as hell at them from trying to stop us from doing what we like to do, even if we see, but refuse to admit that what they are telling us is true.
Learn to play the stock market? Like at gambling, not every one is successful. That is bad advice to give some one with a gambling addiction.
I praise Kuddish for stepping forward and admitting that he has an addiction. It takes a BIG man to finally stand up and admit his faults, no matter what they are in life. We all have addictions that we need to beat, and I for one have many.
Kuddish, you felt the need to voice yourself on a message board to those that you don't know in real life. GOOD FOR YOU!
Now I challenge you to voice yourself to those that you love. Find those people that will listen to you, stand by your side in real life, and fight both your depression and your addiction to gambling.
I hope you are still with us buddy and I sincerely mean that from the heart. Beating your addiction will not be easy, but if you fully commit yourself to beating your addictions, life in the coming weeks and years to come will get better.
And Kuddish, thank you for stepping forward to admit that you have an addiction. It has given me the courage to write this reply and admit my own short comings with my own gambling addiction.
As others have suggested, you do need to seek help from a licensed professional, and yes we can all sit in on and learn from a group of fellow addicts who are trying to recover from the same addiction.
Every avenue of help is worth the time that we committee ourselves to beating any addiction.
Again Kuddish, THANK YOU for coming forward. I wish you the best, and God's love.
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