Topic: Tips to avoid compulsive thoughts related to anxiety (Read 558 times)

The first thing we have to do is to apply time limits and also financial limits, this needs to be done so that we manage our gambling activities well without having to interfere with other activities, to prevent big losses and to prevent the feeling of addiction to gambling, because the longer we When you play gambling, the closer you get to feeling addicted to gambling. Second, recognize and understand first the signs of the dangers of compulsive thoughts related to anxiety. and if you experience a feeling of uncontrollability when gambling, an inability to stop playing and always feeling regretful at the end of the game. and if you experience any of these three things, then it could be that you have compulsive thoughts related to anxiety. Third, if you experience this, then seek support, either from your close friends or someone you care about, and tell them about what you experienced while gambling. Fourth. Find activities that can maintain your daily productivity without any financial and emotional risks. As is the case in the fields of art, sports or social activities, which can really make our mood and mind feel calmer and better.

When my gambling session ends in losses, instead of dwelling on the amount I lost, I just sleep it off. Sometimes, I can't help but feel regretful, thinking I should have done things differently, used another strategy, and so on. Breathing helps a bit, but for me, it's not enough, so it's better to just take a nap.

It's also difficult to deal with anxiety, especially if you're an introvert, the type who doesn't have anyone else to confide in or talk to, not even family or relatives. Of course, our situations vary, and we've all been through different experiences in life. But in a situation like this, for myself, I don't consider professional advice because, first and foremost, it comes with a cost. So what I do instead is engage in other activities that bring me joy, at least to forget what happened for a while.

Inasmuch as such services aren't been rendered by government to the public, that doesn't mean for those who could afford a paid therapy shouldn't give it a try, because just as you just made mention that a simple form of deep breathing can be helpful to relieving stress,. I have also come to understand that "Spending quality time with family and friends" also plays a major role in helping relieving anxiety. And most especially when it comes to gambling, you will tend to observe that if you may have had issues while gambling, and you happen to have discuss it with either family or friends, in most cases they tend to provide the best possible solutions which helps.

the first step in my opinion, is to admit to yourself that you have gambling problem/addiction. without acceptance, you won't address your situation accordingly. so even if it is hard to admit, you need to have reality check from time to time, about your lifestyle, your habits. because no one will do it for you but your own self.

if you love your family, i believe, you will find time to understand what's going on with your life so you can alter your life for the betterment of yourself and your family. it is hard i understand, but don't wait too long, because your family may be out of your life before you know it.

to avoid possible addiction on this habit, why not consider some of these alternative activities -
> travel / go out of your comfort zone
> new hobby / sports
> communicate with old friends/colleagues
> regular routine of exercise
> have quality time with your kids, if there's any
> meditate

If someone has become an serious gambling addict of course professional help is the right choice, however I agree with what you say that in some countries support for responsible gambling from professionals may not be available or their resources are few. Especially in countries where gambling is prohibited. Therefore, it is important to know the symptoms of gambling addiction and if we feel this way, we need to recover so that we don't fall into the trap and become serious gambling addicts.

If it's just for myself, if I start chasing loses, usually I will leave the house, go on a motorbike and meet my friends to just chat so that I can get back in a good mood. Apart from that, exercising is also a good choice because when our bodies are fresh, our minds will also be good again and our logic will again find a clear mind.

if gambling causes you anxiety it might be best to lessen your exposure to gambling and find a professional to talk about your issue. while trying and fixing the issue yourself is good, it is still best to let a professional assess your problem and provide proper steps on how to deal with it.

be a responsible gambler, also finding a hobby or an activity that relaxes you and clears your mind is a great way to with stress or anxiety.

It's great that people keep reading these books, but it won't do any good when the person keeps reading but still has an empty calendar every day, the central problem is always whether the person is happy in real life or not without needing to play. If a person is unhappy without gambling and seeks gambling to be happy, then that person will be dependent on gambling. I have always commented that when you talk about looking at gambling as fun, you should not think that gambling is the same fun as going to the beach, going to the cinema, going to a theater, going to a family gathering, it is not the same thing. a person who takes $10 and buys food at a restaurant and has fun in that same restaurant, is very different from a person who takes $10 and goes to create an account at a casino and gambles and loses everything

This person who went to play with 10$ and lost everything, will not be happy, on the contrary, he will be angry thinking about the defeat and how he got back the 10$, for him that 10$ could have been used for something that he would win, for example If she took the $10 and bought food, then she would be winning, because she would tell herself that she bought food whenever she remembered what she did with the $10, and it's different from remembering that she lost in a casino. By this I mean that people hardly accept losing, there are few people who play who really have no expectation of being able to win and make a profit and look at the games as fun. now for gambling to not be a problem, the person in real life needs to have a lot of things to have fun with

One thing that severely help me with coping from anxiety and depression (which I already had before I even stepped into the gambling world mind you) is being very vocal about it to those who are willing to hear you. There's a massive benefit to letting yourself be heard and letting the people who care about you know that you're in that particular situation, as 9 times out of 10 you're gonna get the help you need this way. Plus the other thing you should really look into is giving yourself the fighting chance. The thing is depression is real and dangerous, but if you let it take over your life, no amount of medicines nor meditation and therapy's gonna get you out of that hole. Lift yourself up on your feet and recognize that this problem is nothing more than a figment of your mind based on the circumstances that you've been in the past, and giving yourself the chance to fight back and look for options to better yourself besides the conventional means is what you should do.

Lastly, don't gamble when you're happy, don't gamble when you're angry or sad. Gamble only when you feel like gambling. The thing is that if you consistently gamble when you're feeling a certain type of way, you'd start correlating your gambling habits with that particular feeling. You'd start to think that gambling is what makes you happy, or that gambling is the only thing that's there for you when you're sad. Don't gamble when you're full of emotions. Gamble only when you really feel the desire to.

That is 100% true. The first and essential step towards a treatment, remission or cure is to always accept the fact you have a problem and need help. People usually neglect the situation they are facing, telling things like "I'm not addicted, I can stop playing at anytime I wish", although in fact they can't stop anymore, but at same time don't confess it to their families, friends, colleagues and even to therapists. This way, there is nothing people around can do for the individual, because the initiative has to come from him in first place.

Each person is responsible for their own lives, with rare exceptions. Other people can help, guide and participate in different moments and ways, but the decisions which really matter and that will make the difference can only come from the person himself. We are social individuals, we have necessity to belong, that is true, but first of all we are individuals with uniquenesses, walking individual paths, since they are different from the paths others are walking. Challenges, responsabilities, duties and goals are different and unique for each person and we have to be aware about that in order to succeed, or at least increase the chances of succeeding.

It's always the first step that everyone needs to recognize. Addiction, being compulsive and any other bad habits that we have, we need to recognize that we have it.

Because if we're still in denial, we're not going to deal with it as a problem that must be solved.

I also agree with what you've said. It adds up to the situation when we've got other things to tackle in our daily lives. They're causing more stress and more anxiety and that's add more impact to someone who's dealing with it.

To me i don't think only gambling causes anxiety now these are possible things to cause anxiety within my little understanding; I can vividly remember that everyday situation can easily leads to anxiety, bad father, relative, or even bad mother /wife and husband or stress at office can triggers someone to be over anxious about the whole situations but what makes it worst is that of gambling. Whenever someone gambles or places  bet and s/he is hoping for outcome at this point such thing can trigger the anxiety in a person this same things also give rate to greed by constantly wanting to make a winning over the time.
How can this be controlled since you have already outlined some of them but the easier way to do this is to sets a limits for him or herself overtime maybe and or when someone has multiple job doing they wouldn't be that chance to start dipping their attention into gambling since they would be mostly occupied with their clerical activities.

I agree and to further state that, the countries where professional help is readily available is lesser than the countries without professional help. In countries where the professional help is not just available to all due to scarcity which will make the few available to demand fees that may be discouraging, many addicts will be practicing self-help or adopted help from unprofessionals, and because of this, they fail. If you are in a pit, it will be easier for someone who is experienced in helping people out of the pit to help you out, than for you to help yourself.

You could all be able to avoid such thing if you are really just that sensible and responsible on the things that you've been doing specially with gambling. You wont really be needing any professional seek of help
or would be having that a book beside you for you to be able to read. You could really be able to make yourself that having no problem if you do really just that make yourself that responsible or mindful on the things that you've been doing. As long you are aware with the risks then it would be normal that you should really be taking it on a responsible manner then you wont really be seeing those type of problems
that would attached to you.

Somewhat not all people would really be having that kind of control and mindset on which there are ones who are really that not realistic the way of thinking about gambling. They've been believing that
they are really that making easy money with gambling and having those easy kind of approach and beliefs on which it is already that delusional.
You wont really be putting up yourself on trouble if you are really that mindful about on your actions.

One principle of gambling is that "gambling is for fun and not a consistent, reliable and proper means of earning for survival." As a gambler, if you keep reminding yourself of that principle, you are at a better chance of not having compulsive thoughts related to gambling anxiety.

As a gambler, prepare and teach yourself how to accept losses because they will come unexpectedly, and if you don't teach yourself how to handle them properly, they will get through to the gambler and may activate in them compulsive thoughts that can lead them to gamble with emotion and make the wrong decision.

There are a few cases of gamblers who committed suicide after losing their bet. Anyone who wants to develop some compulsive gambling thoughts must remind themselves of those ugly incidents; it's a lesson to learn from.

I think the best part to the OP with regards to what’s been discussed is summed in this phrase

Although it is refrained differently in OP as it directly recognizes OP, I’ll like to say, the first step to actually solving any issue is knowing first and foremost that you have a problem. If you don’t come ti that conclusion, then there isn’t a need to even try to remedy any situation that may be. You’re just good to keep living.

Once you establish that there is a situation, a habit that isn’t been helpful, then you would sort out means to solving that problem which might start from identifying what particular problem that might be of which, Anxiety could number in here.

While it might be a normalized situation for others, it’s important that you don’t open that ample space to be anxious over a bet or making profit over a betting session. You could easily start chasing loses/profit and both aren’t a good position to be in. It could always and most easily turn out negatively for you as a gambler.

Gambling causes anxiety and it leads to fear in the life of the gambler, which is not recommendable for the mental growth of anybody. When a gambler is afraid while gambling or thinks his next result could be a loss or maybe he could get bankrupt due to gambling he's stressing his brain and soon enough he begins to reason like that whenever he gambles or even outside the casino. Hence following some reading procedures works great, because most of the books you listed, Op, recommends visiting a professional like a therapist to help change the gambler from struggling with anxiety. A good percent of gamblers are stressed each day, and feel this same fear of losing out money, and when faced with the losses they won't face the defeat and stop or go home, instead they go on to get back their money out of fear. What fuels this attitude should be elaborated more.

 Does it mean the brain is getting comfortable with being afraid or uneasy about the results the gambler gets while gambling? A gambler is afraid of losing money, which leads to anxiety. When he loses the money, leads to addiction. When addicted leads to no fear of losing money. He gets used to the anxiety and is not bothered about what outcome of gambling he gets. Hence, he gambles regardless of the fear or pain, he only has one motive, winning a huge amount of money. It seems to me that the process revolves and gets to a point that may have been a good decision if the gambler was wise enough in the beginning stage not to be afraid of losing in gambling, then back it up with money management. Maybe have other reasons for gambling. Anxiety doesn't allow the gambler enough time to think, he only reasons the fear in him, then makes a series of mistakes out of fear. CBT I think requires a second party that will guide the addict to focus on doing his assignments or other things that may distract him from gambling.

The more resources like those the better for the society.I personally don't have any resource except the well known ones but I am adding my way of getting out of anxiety.First of all anxiety can never come if you only play sport bets as you have to wait quite some time for most of them to finish before you see the outcome if your bet won or lost.The real anxiety is when you play any instant result game like slot machines and other type like that,personally I play sport betting but not doing analysis or so,I just place double parlays in Basketball games,over the minimum over type of bet the bookies offer,I use IDR as a currency so with 20 dollars which is near 300.000 IDR I place like 30 bets like them,it is like playing lottery and no sport betting.I like this way and it keeps you out of anxiety,it works for me at least,so those who got anxiety should give this a try.

Having problematic behaviors related to gambling, such as chasing profits, thinking you can best the house, that your luck will turn etc. has a lot to do with anxiety. In many countries there are readily available resources and public infrastructure though which people can seek and receive assistance for issues like addictions. But the sad truth is that many countries also lack the resources to provide such services to their local population.

So it's important to emphasize that while resources for self help can be good, they can also do more harm than good in certain occasions, so it's good to remind everyone that if available, the best option is to always work with professionals.

Now with that out of the way, I feel like it's important to recognize that anxiety contributed negatively to his one might approach gambling. First step with dealing with anxiety is to recognize it. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/anxiety/symptoms-causes/syc-20350961

The way to deal with related thoughts when they emerge is to have a mental response that is full of logical arguments each time these feelings come up. Think of why anxiety isn't a reasonable feeling, think of your schedule, why it's not worth to gamble again etc. These can depend on each person's circumstances.

Personally I felt a lot better finding and reading a cognitive behavioral therapy book in my local library. I made prints of the most important pages and kept them with me for a while. Dealing with anxiety and keeping it managed can help with many aspects of life actually. Always best to combine written cognitive therapy resources with visits to s licensed professional if you can though. But even reading a CBT book alone can provide some helpful advice to dealing with anxiety.

Now when it comes to realizing that you are affected by physical symptoms of stress, there are also some exercises for that. You can look up breathing techniques, and see if these help you. Even the simplest form of breathing in from the nose and exhaling deeply and slowly while sitting down can be very helpful for some.

Feel free to share any tips if you have them.