Living with a gambler can be very frustrating because you are living with an addiction. Sometimes it can be worse than having the addiction yourself. If you don't want to leave or if you feel that you can't leave, there are things that you can do to minimize the destructive by-products of gambling addiction.
Instructions
1. Understand that the only one that you have complete control over is yourself. No matter how hard you try, you can never control another human being. You can help another, but only if they want help. Once this is understood, you can begin the work that you must do to regain some sense of control over your life.
2. Contact Gamblers Anonymous or Gam-Anon, the support group for friends and family of gamblers, which is listed in the phone book. Remember, any addiction affects the person living with it as much as the person that has it. Before you can try to help anyone, you must help yourself so you will have the strength to help someone.
3. Go to a Gam-Anon meeting and get some phone numbers of people that you can talk to. The people in Gam-Anon have been where you are and can identify with how you are feeling. Reach out for help. You have probably been affected more than you know.
4. Talk to the gambler in your life. If possible, try to set up an intervention where friends and family can talk to the person and convince him or her to get help. Gambling is a chemical addiction. The chemicals emitted from the brain during big wins and big loses can be addictive. Realize that this person has a disease, but unless he is willing to do something about his problem, you can only work on yourself.
5. Take all of your financial instruments away from the gambler. If you have credit cards and a checking account, make sure that the gambler does not have access to them.
6. Stop making excuses for the gambler. If your gambler has been out all night gambling, don't call her workplace for him with an excuse. Make sure that the gambler takes care of her own messes. Don't enable her.
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