Stefan Wilkenson - Gambling Addiction Cure

W e want to thank you for downloading this eBook, Gambling Addiction Cure: How To Overcome Gambling For Life. Through this eBook, we intend to shed some light on the ill effects of gambling and how you can overcome it.

Let us start by asking this question, when was the last time you indulged in gambling? Last month, last week or just a moment back? This seemingly irrelevant question potentially holds the key to unlocking the current status of your mental and financial health.

Gambling is a lot of fun but like all good things it loses its luster when it is employed for devious ends. The line between fun and problem is indeed really thin and it doesnt take much time to cross over from one end to another.

Only after you have made that jump, do you realize the problems you have landed yourself in. The possibility of being broke and losing your family and any sense of professional stability becomes all too clear in an instant. But by then, gambling has you in its clutches, well and tight and you do not know how to come out of it.

This is when you need a guide and a mentor to take you through this extremely challenging and problematic time. You need someone who can make you aware of the perils that you inevitably have to face and at the same time also give you the means to handle them in an efficient manner.

Gambling Addiction Cure: How To Overcome Gambling For Life is just this kind of resource, which is written with an intention for you to get total control on your gambling addiction and help you get through it.

T here is a reason why gambling is notorious. People have suffered tremendous losses while trying their luck with getting quick money. Earlier, there were various options to gamble, like betting on sports, poker games, scratch cards, slots, roulette, poker and casino, which required the gambler to take some time off his schedule to bet. But now gambling is just a click away, with a number of easy-access online gambling sites.

Once a gambler gets into this habit, he may go to great lengths trying his luck, losing his money, property and shares on the way, and yet gamble compulsively. This is how a gambling addict charts his way to destitution.

When gambling is a problem, and when it becomes addiction

There is a simple rule that can help you identify whether gambling has become a problem for you. You can be rest assured that you are an addict when gambling starts causing problems in your life.

However, gambling problem is not the same as addiction to gambling and neither of the two have any connection with monetary self-sufficiency and safety. Therefore, no matter how easily you pay all the money you lose in gambling and no matter how large the amount you can afford to lose, it becomes a problem if it disrupts your daily routine.

You suffer from problem gambling if you show these signs:

• Constant preoccupation with gambling
• Urge to increase the time and money spent on gambling with every gamble
• Constantly chasing losses
• Continuing to gamble despite unfavorable consequences

Gambling addiction is a kind of impulse-control disorder. It is also known as compulsive gambling because compulsive (or addicted) gamblers find themselves totally incapable of controlling their impulse to gamble. They see they are hurting themselves, putting their future at risk, preparing for their ruin, but they cannot control the impulse.

Fully aware of the consequences, seeing their relationships bearing the brunt of constant gambling, they gamble whether they have money or not, feeling high or low and depressed or joyous. Once gambling becomes an addiction there is no reason big enough to restrain the gambler.

Addicted gamblers are constantly in denial; even though they see their position dwindling, staying off gambling is just not an option.

Signs that you are a gambling addict

If you feel that gambling has been causing some serious problems in your life, go over the checklist below and see how addicted you have become to gambling.

No matter how strong your resolutions, you cannot stop

Those who play poker for fun or see gambling as a light game of chance, do it with a constant awareness of limit. A poker player who is experienced knows just when to fold the cards and leave, similarly a gambler for fun knows where to limit his bet and when to just walk off.

Compulsive gamblers, on the other hand, find it hard to manage the amount of money and time they spend on gambling. They repeatedly try to quit, only falling back into the same habit. It is no longer they who decide their gambling schedule; rather it is gambling that dictates their day.

You continue to gamble with the money, you know you cannot afford to lose

The gamblers who gamble for fun usually keep some money aside for it. This way they are prepared for losses and once they have gambled (lost) it all, they call it quits. Gambling addicts do not keep themselves restricted to a limited sum (that is if they ever decide on putting a sum aside). In fact, they use the money that they have put aside for paying bills, monthly grocery, childrens education or saving, for gambling. Sometimes, gambling does not stop even there, after exhausting his own money, an addicted gambler may borrow money, even from sources so dangerous that they even put the safety of their family at risk.

You may go to dangerous extremes to procure money to gamble

When borrowing no longer remains an option and all money sources are depleted, a pathological gambler may resort to criminal activities, ranging from small thefts, forgery, conning and other crimes.

Gambling is no longer just for the sake of entertainment

Gambling as a recreational activity is more about having a good time and letting luck take over your life completely. But compulsive gamblers are looking not just for entertainment; they are usually into gambling as an escape from other problems or simply anxiety. Gambling is not a solution, but in the game of chances, one manages to free oneself of all responsibility and accountability

Gambling is now a trap, you gamble even more to recover losses

When gambling becomes an addiction, you are bound to make losses. The only way you can now think of procuring money to pay off debts is by gambling more. This is the kind of situation that gambling addiction can trap you in. Compulsive gamblers, despite losses, do not see gambling as a waste of money, rather as a solution to make up for the loss.

You continuously increase the stakes

Most addicts follow this trend, it begins with small amounts until the person feels more and more inclined to experience the same on a larger scale. This is how gambling takes the shape of a pathological problem. A gambling addict will not be content with setting limits to the stakes; he always pushes to experience the rush.

Gambling takes precedence before the more important things

Compulsive gamblers allow their impulse to gamble to dictate every other aspect of their lives. He may put his career far down in his priority list; even relationships deteriorate as the pathological gambler does not give his close ones the time, attention and importance they deserve. He stays glued to online gambling when he should ideally be doing something else.