Gambling
Addiction to gambling begins with the thrill of risk-taking and the adrenaline rush that comes with each “win”. That rush pushes aside buried feelings of guilt and low self-worth and replaces them with money or products, in an attempt to fill the real emptiness inside. But the pain remains: no matter how much is won the void is never filled, and the gambler’s sense of self-worth and identity become increasingly wrapped up in “winning”.
Have you experienced any of the following in relation to gambling?
- A preoccupation with gambling
- Lying with ease to family members to conceal the extent of your gambling
- Placing your family, home or marriage at risk through continued gambling
- Stealing or fraudulently acquiring money to continue your habit
- Returning to gambling in order to get even, even after losing money
- Relying on others to bail you out from your financial difficulties, promising that you will never gamble again
- Restlessness or irritability when attempting to stop gambling
- Using gambling as a way of switching off, or of dreaming about a better or different future
- Finding that your mind wanders, leaving you always thinking about gambling
Sex Addiction
Sexual addiction is often an attempt to act out deep-seated anger and pain through the realm of the sexual or the erotic. “Acting out” keeps the sufferer safe from the fear of a partner rejecting or being angry towards them if their hidden feelings of shame, guilt and rage were to be expressed. Addiction to sex is safety from true intimacy, and from sharing feelings of loneliness and vulnerability that feel crushing and overwhelming.
Are you experiencing any of the following?
- A preoccupation with looking at adult material on the internet, or on DVD
- Spending more time surfing the net or looking at material of a sexual nature than you intend to
- Feeling disgusted and guilty after engaging in this behaviour
- Throwing away magazines or DVDs of a sexual nature and then later retrieving them
- Feeling incapable of stopping your behaviour
- Promising your partner that this behaviour is under control and that you'll never do it again, but finding that you do
- Spending money on other men or women to seduce them, or to make them to spend time with you
- Worrying about the health risks involved in sexually acting out
- Feeling bored, lonely, depressed or continually anxious until you act out your behaviour
