Link between Gambling and Depression

Most addiction has an underlying depression. Routines are essential to not falling and staying down so give it a chance. There is an nr of things you can do. Get some antidepressants. That will neutralize a lot of mood swings and many people are ok with using them. Get therapy. You can do cbt, gestalt. NLP worked for me. Hypnosis. You just need to start googling for resources in your area and pick a starting point. Most of this is a jungle in the beginning but you will eventually find something that is a match then you will see how things improve.

Never give up never surrender!

Best

C

Hi David,

Well done for coming back to the forum and posting here.  I've moved your post from 'New members' to the 'Overcoming' section.

I'm sorry that you've been feeling unhappy.  Your GP could diagnose whether you have depression or whether your mood is temporarily low in reaction to situational factors like gambling losses.  Here is a link to an NHS website page about managing low mood:

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/low-mood-and-depression/

Please call us on our freephone or netline so we can have a 1-2-1 chat about how you are feeling.   We can give you information about various treatment options and self-help methods to support your recovery from problem gambling.  We can offer also you a free promotion of GamBan blocking software if you'd like to try that out.  

Take care,

Adam.

I used to be the same. I absolutely hated going into work especially as because I wouldn't have any money and work seemed utterly pointless as I'd just gamble until I had nothing left. Even now on my days off, I really struggle to get out of bed at all. 

I don't want to sound patronising but there are things that can be done. I like playing my guitar and recently I started going for very long walks on my own and documenting them on my phone. It really did help. I'm starting to appreciate the little things. Which sometimes does help me. 

Thank you for the comments everybody and for the advice given. I’ll take one day at a time at the moment, I actually told my girlfriend how down I was last night so I know she’s here to support me. Speaking to my GP is the next step I need to take. 

Hi DavidC1995.

Depression goes hand in hand with a gambling addiction because they are both complex issues which play off each other.

I have been a depressive all my life Depression can take many forms and it went on so long that I didnt really know how depressed I was. It doesnt mean I was moping around or in a padded cell every day. I was however jaded with life and never liked the thought of the rat race or even going to primary school...However I was dutifully packed off and the rat race began.

I hated my first jobs and its only now that I realise nothing was on offer to me (certainly no career) and I shouldnt have been in them...I should have chosen something more suitable to study for . I drifted into jobs because I was aimless and confused. After five years in my first job I had a mental breakdown and became severely depressed at work before resigning in a confused state

However I started gambling when I was 12. The real reasons were loneliness, depression, total isolation from happiness or proper parental influences and I was living in an introverted delusional world of my own.

I wont lie...it was the most exciting feeling I had felt in years if not ever. the power of the drug is I felt alive sneaking out of the holiday cottage with pockets full of coins to have another go. I felt totally alive coming back with maybe forty quid of coins...seemed a fortune for a young boy...cheeky.... alive and I had a purpose!

Little did I know the seeds were sown...the pleasure centres in the mind altered for a forty year addiction.

That is what is so extremely dangerous about the whole thing. The truth is I needed help for depression...I needed my dad to tell me he loved me and take me to do some male bonding pursuits. I needed a girlfriend a connection with life and hope for the future

Instead in my hurt I found a drug...a gambling drug which buried my pain and distracted my thoughts with false notions and drug induced highs.

So depression is firmly linked. Often depression comes first and gambling follows until they keep each other in a vicious cycle. Maybe gambling comes first with some people but they are two complex mental illness which alter perception.

There is no shame in reaching out for help. I wish I had decades ago.

Best wishes