Gambling is rarely the problem, it's a symptom of mental illness

Hello Blunderwoman and you are very welcome on the forum.

The forum is about talking things through and discussing your feelings about gambling, Its about telling us your story and realisng you are far from alone in your actions.

My considered view its that its a complex addiction which build from troubles in the soul. Its a drug addiction as it was my drug of choice for escape. Its a cry for help and its what I turned to instead of other things like drink or other drugs. I do consider gambling as a drug as it has the same sort of effects on the body and mind.

It is a form of self harm and many people are gambling to punish themselves or just experience any emotion above numb

I agree with you in that its often a symptom of a much deeper problem. I dont want to go into it too deeply at this stage.

Compulsive gambling is an illness which stems from and builds upon other illnesses like depression.  We can just say that the mind is ill and look at the reasons during a full recovery.

I was very ill and i have often posted the deep reasons  of my low self esteem and depression with life. Yes I did not particularly like life and was very jaded with it...hated it in many ways

When you stop gambling your aim is a peace of mind to look at the real issues and think your life through.

Compulsive gambling is highly destructive as you know and your life will be better without it. I dont have much but I can get some quality out of my life when its under control.

So I do agree with a lot of what you say but you have to accept that the mind becomes ill with gambling whatever the main reason behind it.

The main thing is you keep talking about your feelings here and with people close to you

Best wishes from  everyone on the forum

I'm sure you would get many different opinions on whether mental illness caused the addiction or the addiction caused the mental illness. Personally I don't really see what difference it makes. It's like debating which came first, the chicken or the egg, an interesting brain teaser but ultimately pointless.

In my case maybe I do have some type of mild mental illness but if I do, I definitely believe it has been caused by my addictive behavior and not the other way around. Having now gone 55  days without a bet I do strongly believe that we can all search our souls for the causes of our illogical behavior but at some point we have to step up and own it, own what has happened and address whatever needs addressing to enable us to live gambling free. It's in all of us to achieve this though some will find it easier than others.

Good luck in your journey of recovery.

Hi... I echo much of what has been said.

I think that compulsive gambling is very much a product of our mental health and our outlook on the world and how we relate to it.

If we were all comfortable in our own skin, if we we all had healthy self-esteem, then we simply wouldn't indulge in unhealthy behaviours.

All addictive behaviours are like a reaction to life and once ingrained in our psyche, can be very hard to free ourselves from. I am a classic example of this.

We are all but a work in progress.

i think you are right i think the addiction is strongly linked to the ego 

we all enjoy success it makes us feel good about ourselves and gambling *can* provide a cheat code to some level financial success ( if you win ) 

problem is most of us lose as the odds are so heavily stacked against us 

this triggers the compulsion to try and get back to where we started

( too effectively avoid admiting to ourselves we've been a bit stupid ) 

more ego protection

how far the addiction goes from there depends on the level of resources or credit available to them 

you can only start to recover when you admit to yourself you have been a bit of a clown and you let the losses go

unfortunatley many dont do this and prefer to go down the

" i am suffering from a mental illness route "

this effectively serves as more ego protection which in turn allows the addiction to survive 

Well yes I generally agree with what is being said.

Im not scared of the term mental illness and I dont use it as an excuse to avoid the fact that I carried out those actions. I faced the responsibility in order to recover. Some people are scared of that term or they think its just a liberal wet excuse for my ego or my greed

Mental illness does not automatically mean thumbing my lips in a padded cell. Its a mind thats not functioning in a healthy way and lets face that chucking all my money into a gambling machine is far from healthy thing to do.

Its not a stupidity issue. My mind was constantly fighting itself but I had no control over the dominance of gambling urges. It made no sense but I couldnt help myself. I was hooked on something controlling me

I am a complex mix of confusion. I built up a false vanity and an ego of entitlement to combat a low self esteem. I felt the world owed me a living for doing as little as possible. I have never been good with the reality of working life or  even work. I'm a sensitive soul that finds the world cruel so rather than toughen up I tended to run and escape from it all

To some people it all sounds like excuses.

The priority is to stop gambling and get the help needed to do that.

Then  when I had recovered for a while I found it theraputic to look at the possible reasons why I was vunerable to a gambling addiction. My mind was healing and I found it helpful to face truths that I had always really known about myself but buried in my mind for a lifetime. I am my own worst enemy and can never be complacent again especially about gambling.

Best wishes to everyone  on the forum