How to help gambling addited family member.

LegacyUser

Hey guys, basically my brother has been acting strange for the past, well 2-3 years, never had any money, not out much, no clothes, no nothing. All this and he was still in a ok paying full time job. I knew something was up but couldn't confront him as I had no evidence and he was never very reasonable, he would have denied denied denied and shouted me down.

But today he has spilled the beans to me and came out and told everyone in the family that he has a gambling addiction /compulsion. Hes in about 2k of debt. Hes admitted his problems so thats a start, but the next part is even trickier.

What would be the best course of action? Will I tell him go to Gam-Anon, block all poker and gambling sites on the network at home? Or what? Im clueless really.

Anyone with any experience of this type of thing please give me some info.

Thanks.

Big Bag of Chips

First stop would HAVE to be a GA meeting. You could go along with him, if he wanted you there. There would be no objection, but you might find he wouldn't want you there ALL the time. He may be embarrassed, at first, to admit certain things with you present.

A very close friend of mine admitted to a gambling problem almost 3 years ago. He has been doing great with the support of the meetings. He started to get bored of them about a year ago, thought he had it sussed himself... but he "fell" at Christmas.

So now he's back at the meetings.. whether he's bored or not!.. and he realises, THIS is his chance.. he has too much to lose.

Best of luck to you all. It's not easy.

LegacyUser

jimmybully wrote: »

Hey guys, basically my brother has been acting strange for the past, well 2-3 years, never had any money, not out much, no clothes, no nothing. All this and he was still in a ok paying full time job. I knew something was up but couldn't confront him as I had no evidence and he was never very reasonable, he would have denied denied denied and shouted me down.

But today he has spilled the beans to me and came out and told everyone in the family that he has a gambling addiction /compulsion. Hes in about 2k of debt. Hes admitted his problems so thats a start, but the next part is even trickier.

What would be the best course of action? Will I tell him go to Gam-Anon, block all poker and gambling sites on the network at home? Or what? Im clueless really.

Anyone with any experience of this type of thing please give me some info.

Thanks.

I was in the same position as you.

A family member developed a gambling addiction. Your brother has done the right thing by being honest with you all so early.

I would suggest GA or contact Aiseiri (they are a group that help people deal with addictions).

In my case, the member of my family spent a month in counselling with Aiseiri and hasn't gambled or drank since then...but this was after hitting rock bottom and losing over 100,000 gambling over a 10 year period.

Advice suggests that an addict has to hit their own personal rock bottom before they'll acknowledge their problem and deal with it.

I hope this is your brother's rock bottom and that he gets on the road to recovery now.