What can you do to help a gambler?

Answer 1

Addiction of any kind is a disease, and must be treated as such. If a person had cancer, they would seek out a medical opinion and get treatment for it in a place that is precisely for that disease.

There are programs, both inpatient and outpatient that provide treatment for addictions in general, or specializing in gambling addiction.

There are plenty of resources available that have to be specific to your area and can be found online simply by searching under "inpatient treatment, gambling" and most insurances now cover some form of treatment for addiction.

The person whom is gambling, however, has to desire treatment for their addiction.

This does not mean that they have to want to stop. It simply means that they have become aware that their gambling is hurting them and their loved ones, and they have tried to stop on their own and have found that this is not an effective way to go about it.

Many programs for gambling offer "12 Step" programs that focus on gambling also, and the 12 steps focus on being aware and educated about your disorder, acknowledging that you have the desire to stop this behavior or abuse, and the willingness to simply try in a fellowship of people who either have, or want to stop also.

The 12 steps also result in the recovery for "one day at a time", meaning you don't have to commit to stopping the behavior for the rest of your life, but only one day.

This helps the person clear their mind so that it is not so overwhelming.

Then, as the person recovers with the assistance of others, they go forth with the fellowship and share their story and the message of hope with those who are still suffering, as they were when they first suffered.

The last thing you can do is to educate yourself in addictions in general, and what to do and not do for a person whom is addicted to a behavior or substance.

They call addiction a "family disease" because often times, there is a lot of "covering up" (calling in to work, lending money, etc)

to try and help the person, but in actuality they are simply preventing the inevitable, where the suffering addict "hits bottom" and comes to grips with the fact that they do, indeed, need to seek help.