Gambling Addiction & Recovery Support Group

Compulsive gambling is an urge or addiction to gamble despite harmful negative consequences or a desire to stop. A preferred term among many professionals is problem gambling, as few people described by the term experience true compulsions in the clinical sense of the word. Problem gambling often is defined by whether harm is experienced by the gambler or others rather...

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Feeling Lonely

angie443
angie443
I am feeling lonely and wanting to gamble. Thank goodness I gave my ATM card to a friend to keep me from going tonight. I understand that I used gambling to cover up the loneliness. However, I am missing it right now in a big way. But I will not miss the walk of shame to my car after losing all of my money yet again because if I were to go that is the likely outcome.
skip88
skip88
All of us feel that way sometimes, just part of the addiction. Hang in there and it will pass. Think of something happy and try to stay focused. Hopefully it will get easier and not as often.
Qwit4Good
Qwit4Good
It is true across addictions. HALT stand for Hungry, Angry, Lonely, and Tired. These are the four basic triggers for any addiction. We have used our addiction to medication those feelings and others. Sadly our addiction numbs not just the bad feelings but all feelings. We end up feeling like we are leading a double life. The face we put on for family, friends and work and face of our gambler.
We are social beings if we do not make connections with other people we will connect with things/drugs/alcohol/gambling/sex/tv/internet/games/whatever.
GA provides an instant network of people in the same boat. And that is what we need. We also need all the people that care about us. From the oldest to the youngest.
suggestions: make play dates with friends, plan, otherwise you won't do it.
go to your library for books and music
go to your local park
revive old friendships and create new ones
Very important to make younger friends as we grow older or you will run out of friends in old age. (So said a scientist and friend, I once provided care for at the end of his life.)
Good job on giving up the ATM card.
Break out the art supplies for times of anxiety or severe urges it helps.
yes2recovery
yes2recovery
Yep, me too. Good for you for taking the precaution of giving your ATM card to a friend! Well done. Skip88 is right, it will pass, but it sure sucks while it's happening. Be strong, and just do the next right thing!
darlingd
darlingd
The best part is when you wake up in the morning and realize you did not lose everything agIn last night! Best feeling.
nancyzoman
nancyzoman
One of the hardest parts of getting over this insidious addiction was realizing that sometimes I couldn't self-medicate anymore when I was frustrated, sad, lonely, tired, disappointed, fearful of something or angry.

In some cases, in the past 11 months, I've learned how to better cope with stressors and negative emotions, but sometimes I just have to sit through them now and let them pass. After nine years of gambling away the negative emotions, it's an unpleasant truth that sometimes it just feels bad to experience them again.