Effects of Gambling
on Family Members:
by Jerry "Jet" Whittaker
February 13, 2006
A gambler is anyone
whose gambling is causing psychological, financial,
emotional, marital, legal, or other difficulties for
themselves and the people around them especially to the
family members. It may be an isolated case of
overspending, or a pattern of excessive gambling when
upset, or it may be an ongoing problem with continual
losses and mounting debts also at the extreme end of
this range is pathological gambling, where people are
unable to control their gambling much as those addicted
to alcohol are unable to control their drinking.
Sometimes this gambling problem is transient and goes
away, sometimes it plateaus and maintains for years, and
sometimes it progresses to catastrophic levels and
regardless of the course, these gamblers usually
experience intense shame, financial strife, and family
problems which effects their family members.
What are the effects
of gambling on family members?
Often when problem
gamblers make yet another bet, they are risking much
more than the bills they've placed on the table, or the
coins they've dropped into a video lottery terminal and
due to that clients readily admit to severe financial
losses, emotional turmoil, legal and career problems,
and more but however the losses go beyond the gamblers
themselves, affecting family members, close friends,
colleagues and employers of problem gamblers.
In this losses condition
the families seem to be the hardest hit and also
spouses, children, siblings, parents and grandparents of
problem gamblers, all of them recount the pain
associated with the problem gambler's behavior while
here the first losses the family experiences are time
and money. As gamblers spend more and more time
gambling, children often feel abandoned, and
relationships between spouses deteriorate which in turn
breaks the family.
Gamblers are generally
very good at hiding their gambling but while trying to
win back losses and pay off debts before his or her
gambling is discovered, a gambler often destroys the
family's economic future long before a spouse even
realizes there's a problem. However the financial
problems can often result in repossession of homes, lack
of money for basic necessities, and harassment by
creditors as well as the distrust, fear, and
hopelessness that result due to gambling can destroy
families and relationships.
How can you help
yourself?
Here the more support a
gambler gets its more better also always keep in mind
that the best strategy is to be aware of the facts about
problem gambling and the more you understand it the
better you can handle it. However first take support
from family members or understanding friends, other
people who are affected by problem gambling, counsellors
and spiritual leaders. You can get help even from
Self-help books, web-site information or documentaries
or even from community Self-help and professional help.
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