Re: Gambler\'s anonymous
 

go into aa and describe to them your behaviour for much of college. unless you rarely drank, you will be deemed an alcoholic. if you deny it, well, you are in denial.

i have been in the system.

Re: Gambler\'s anonymous
 

I was in Alanon for quite a while and found meetings I liked and meetings I didn't. So sometimes shopping around for a meeting that suits you helps alot. One of the first and best catch phrases I ever heard was "take what you can use and leave the rest".

As far as having trouble with the "God" part as mentioned in one post, there is wide latitude in that observation which is part of why the program is so successful. Some people consider it to mean "Good Orderly Direction".

I think a person is blessed to have some inkling of a potential problem and considering steps to avert it before hitting bottom. I wish I had been that honest with myself and strong enough to do something about it early on.

Hope this adds something to the thread...

Re: Gambler\'s anonymous
 

[ QUOTE ]

i have been in the system.

[/ QUOTE ]
I won't deny that it's likely you got the reception you describe.
I'm sorry you had a bad experience.

Re: Gambler\'s anonymous
 

[ QUOTE ]
Would it be ethical for a sucessful poker player to go to G.A. iF he won at poker but lost at the tables compulsively?
One of rules at G.A. is no form of gambling at all?
G.G.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is a great idea. I bet their all jonesing for some action. You could clean up.

Re: Gambler\'s anonymous
 

It would be unwise for someone with Pathological Gambling (PG) to engage in any gambling of any type. I often see alcoholics or drug users who want to learn to use in moderation, rather than be entirely abstinent. I've seen this work only twice in 17+ years of practice.

I suspect that attendees of GA would strongly encourage anyone with PG to avoid all types of wagering, even those that are +EV (and I would agree with them).

Re: Gambler\'s anonymous
 

Here's my beef with AA. In the words of my girlfriend, "You can only attend AA and do the steps if you're at least an agnostic."

Re: Gambler\'s anonymous
 

[ QUOTE ]
It would be unwise for someone with Pathological Gambling (PG) to engage in any gambling of any type. I often see alcoholics or drug users who want to learn to use in moderation, rather than be entirely abstinent. I've seen this work only twice in 17+ years of practice.


[/ QUOTE ]

I'm a psychologist who's area of expertise is addiction, particulary gambling addiction, and even more particularly online poker addiction.

The truth is that many many people go from being addicted to something to moderate and "normal" use, be it alcohol, drugs, or forms of gambling. If you have only seen it twice in 17 years then it is because you just don't see the people who return to moderate use because they no longer go to you with a problem, or you are being disingenuous.

I believe in giving people the full facts on these matters, not promoting any spiritually based abstinence philosophy or ludicrously outdated medical disease theory of addiction.

The fellowships such as AA or GA are NOT permissive of intentioned use as their anachronistic view of addiction (which is unchanged despite decades of research which contradicts it) explicity precludes the possibility of moderate usage. This harmful view is why many addicts have 1 slip and they think "oh God that's it I've fallen off the wagon, I know an addict can't have just 1 or 2 drinks so I have no choice but to binge now"

If any of you or anyone you know may have a gambling problem then by all means use GA as a 1st stop for info but if there are alternatives then I would suggest that for many gamblers, particularly poker players choosing an option other than GA may be more suitable for you. But if GA are the only show in town then I would recommend them over nothing.

Here are some links which may be useful to you or others, feel free to PM me for any further information:
http://www.basisonline.org/toolkits/...pSite/main.htm
http://www.gamblingtherapy.org/
http://www.ncpgambling.org/about_problem/
http://www.responsiblegambling.org/

And be wary about what you read, in America many of the organisations are in the pocket of the gaming industry (eg Harvard's gambling centre) or actually set up by it.

Re: Gambler\'s anonymous
 

I don't know about ethical, but it sounds as if you can use the help.

Re: Gambler\'s anonymous
 

Well...I guess the best way you could compare playing poker for a living is if you day trade stocks....I mean i know alot of people who got cracked in the stock market because they were degenerate gamblers...stories pre summer of 2000 where i heard about investors taking our second mortgages on their vacation homes to get into that hot IPO.

Most of the public still feel poker is a game of luck rather than skill...but the skill players (stocks and poker) know different in the long run..