Cognitive regret

Yes but the machines are stealing your money from the very first spin because the gamblers are ignoring the odds.

Whats at the forefront are the flashing lights and spinning reels. If I sat you in a room with flashing lights and spinning reels creating pretty patterns they would have a serious effect on your brain by brainwashing you.

We look for patterns and the adrenaline of expectation is s super strong primordial drug in the bloodstream.

The pattern of false activity should be illegal....bonuses that pay the minimum amount are not bonuses but they are being chased. Near misses which show the end symbol bouncing up slightly....Its all deviously designed to keep the punter gambling. winning sounds for a return less than the stake.

Take these away and a truer picture of the machine emerges....lose lose lose lose lose until the small returns dont even dent what has been put in. On the flip side we are not really playing for the smaller amounts and the money was secondary for me. The odds of getting a top return are much more difficult that most machine players realise

Feeling cheated is actually a trigger to keep playing...Ill get back at it next time for being naughty...we are giving human emotions to a random number generator coldly calculating its algorithms.

Its is a form of sadomasochism.The complex reality is that many punters are playing to lose...playing to punish themselves for feeling a failure.

Any emotion above numb was what I was seeking. I was clinically depressed a lot of the time and machine gambling was my escape drug of choice .

I often got the roller coaster of emotions but I was hooked so felt compelled to go in even if the machine did nothing for me. Sometimes my emotions were barely above numb...call it a bad fix but I was an addict

Lets all face the facts . Those machine can take hundreds or thousands for no real reward. The small amounts are too little to late and is not the high we are seeking. The main high is next time... next time

The truth is I hated my life. I needed help to see the way forward but didnt feel anybody cared. Gambling was my escape...I sadly felt part of something...no shopping or attempts to socialise could replace the gambling hits I was seeking.

When I hit an all time low I finally did something about it..My life is much better now.

Best wishes to everyone on the forum

Ty for your reply and story. 

I feel I have had a similar one. Not enjoying my life much and disappearing into the bogus world of slots and roulette. In the end, I used to call the admin on chat and give them a bolloking because I knew they were setting the machines to "don't pay that idiot". I still do not understand how I can have been hooked enough to blow all that money. I agree now it was never the money it was a trip into insanity land. And even if I knew that I was unwell I was determined to "handle it" No one handles it. I do believe though as I mentioned in an earlier thread that the insane behaviour we carry inside in our neural pathways can be removed with the right tool. We are computers. Pretty smart ones but computers all the same with a program. The syntax error can be fixed if the right tools are in place. I very much hope to prove that someday.

He walked into the clinic and sat down next to the psychiatrist and sat down.

" Good morning"

" Good morning"

" How long have you been mad son?"

"Mad"?

" Mad, crazy nuts. How long has it been going on?"

"I am not mad I have an addiction problem with gambling!"

"And you don't think that is crazy"?

" Well no. It´s just a bit of fun that has got the upper hand and now I can´t stop it" 

"And you don't think that is crazy"? 

"Let me sum it up this way"...

" The Industry is selling you madness. The machines you play are rigged. You know they are rigged but yet you still play. When you have burned through your thousands all you are left with is emptiness and this small static noise in your head. And what did you get out of being away from reality? Nothing but more of the pain you were running away from, to begin with. Now tell me does this waste of time sound normal to you?"

" Maybe not".

" Gambling is madness. It creates madness. It is promoted by monsters who want you to go mad and the only one. The only one person who can help you is you"

Good luck in your recovery!

You crave for better lives. You want better things, You want to leave s**t behind. You want to leave crappy feelings and embrace the future. Life has hated you but you have decided to move along regardless. You are all true warriors. Hold your head up high and say. I got his far. I will get further!

Hi Cath,

nice words... 

thanks,

john pops

https://youtu.be/aqXmOb_fuN4

The link above is to a ted talks seminar by Cyrus Mc Candless where he explains how dopamine is being misunderstood. Now for very long, I have been trying to understand the dopamine effect on the brain an I am no brain scientist so I can only add my humble opinions on these things. What caught my attention here is how we shut down everything else we are not prioritising so we can focus on the main task at hand (or the one task that we are prioritising at the time). That tells a bit about the story of the zone and why we walk out of slot halls with absolutely no money at all. We are so focused on the task that we simply do not react to anything else at all. It is biological as he says. It absolutely shows that the only way to beat this is not to do it at all.

The quote of the day:

If you fill your shelf (materialism) but don't fill your self (fulfilment) you will always be one arm's length away from happiness.

With the admin's permission, of course, I would like to offer two new books tips which could be helping you on your recovery journey.

1. Control your gambling addiction with self-hypnosis By Sharon Shinwell

2.The seven most effective methods of self-hypnosis Dr Richard Nongard

Both teach you how to work with self-hypnosis and they can be listened to by audiobook.

Why is it important? From a gamblers point of view, our minds are racing most of the time. Where will I get more money, how can I pay or not play etc? This type of self-relaxation is good for stress if nothing else and may help you get some structure in how you think about things because if it is something I know is that we gamblers need help in structuring how we think. I am hoping that admin will let these and other tips through as they are a great help to self-recovery.

All the best

C

Hello c43h

Thank you for your post and thanks for checking, although people do need to be aware that we at GamCare aren't endorsing these books and methods, this is purely a personal endorsement of something you've found useful.

Generally we advocate CBT based treatment for gambling recovery, however we do understand that people may have success with other methods too.

Wishing you all the best with your recovery

Cal

Forum Admin

“Watch your thoughts, they become your words; watch your words, they become your actions; watch your actions, they become your habits; watch your habits, they become your character; watch your character, it becomes your destiny.”

so be careful?

No. The message here is to be positive in your thinking. This has been the message since ancient times among heaps of leaders and philosophers.  You become what you think about. 

Yes positivity goes a long way theres a thought that is called "the secret" where if you want something enough and you think of yourself having it enough, the thoughts prepell you to it.  If you want something like a car for example create a picture board with a photo of the car and spend an hour a day thinking you have that car, all the thoughts you will have in that car etc.  Then say a time frame you will have it in.  Then the forces on earth will prepell you towards that car.  I created a diary on here called the secret a number of years ago with my wants and ill go and have a look now if I can find it to see if I have achieved them a few years later.

"ask, perceive and receive"

I asked for a job with progression, to live smoke free and a holiday to one of my bucket list every year.

Also on a side note I wanted a soundbad and some shelves for my dvds.

Now ive succeeded at not smoking since 2016 horray.

I haven't been on holiday boo.

I also wouldn't say ive got a job with progression boo.

I did get that soundbar and shelves.

Oh well 2 out of four isn't bad fifty percent