Did You Grow Up With a Problem Gambler

Compulsive gambling is a symptom of an emotional illness, characterized by low self-esteem, immaturity, instability and obsessive behavior.

Because compulsive gambling is an insidious and baffling illness, some adults have difficulty deciding if they were affected by compulsive gambling during childhood.

The following questions may help you to determine whether compulsive gambling affected your childhood or present life.

• Do you obsess about money?
• Did family activities revolve around gambling events? (sports, cards, lottery, racetracks, etc.)
• Have you ever been missing money?
• Have you ever paid or been asked to pay a parent’s debts?
• Do your parents often argue about money?
• Were you forced to form an alliance with one parent against another?
• Did you parents use you as a sounding board for their marriage?
• Are you afraid to be alone with the gambling parent?
• Do you feel anxious when the phone rings, mail comes or doorbell rings?
• Do you feel responsible for the unhappiness in your home?
• Do you confuse pity with love?
• Have you had problems with your own compulsive behavior?
• Do you feel more like the parent than the child?
• Are you unable to remember all or parts of your childhood?
• Do you care for others easily, but find it difficult to care for yourself?
• Do you find it difficult to identify and express your feelings?
• Do you have trouble with intimate relationships?
• Do you lie when it would be just as easy to tell the truth?
• Do you feel more alive in the midst of a crisis?
• Do you think more money would solve your problems?

If you answered yes to some or all of these questions, Gam-Anon may be for you. Gam-anon is a fellowship for families, relatives and close friends who live and have lived with the gambling problem. We would like you to feel that we understand as perhaps few can and that Gam-Anon can offer you a new way of life.

Contact; Gam-Anon

Born to Lose: Memoirs of a Compulsive Gambler