How To Stop Gambling Now
- How To Stop Gambling Now Legal
- How To Stop Gambling Cold Turkey
- How To Stop Gambling Forum
- How To Stop Gambling Online
- How Do I Stop Gambling Now
Welcome
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I am a California State Licensed Clinical Psychologist. I graduated from UCLA and Northwestern University with a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology. After (finally) graduated, I sought additional training specifically for gambling-related problems. For over 20 years I have been provided outpatient gambling addiction treatment as well as general psychotherapy in the Los Angeles area, as well as some long distance patients by telephone or skype.
Here you will find background information about problem gambling, the impact on those facing this issue, and their family/friends who are also impacted. If you are seeking information regarding my treatment of non-gambling related general psychological issues (e.g. anxiety, depression, relationships etc. please contact me by phone or email).
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SPECIAL NOTICE
In conjunction with the State of California's Office on Problem Gambling (within the Department of Public Health) which is administered by UCLA's Gambling Studies Program you can have 8 to 24 individual problem gambling treatment therapy sessions at no cost. Call 1-800-Gambler for information. Yep, completely free to anyone who can attend therapy in person, paid for by the Office on Problem Gambling and the State of California via a special fund from the Native American Tribes. This offer is open to anyone who has a California address and is also open to anyone who is involved in a close relationship with a person who is a compulsive gambler. The only requirement is that they have at least one symptom of a gambling disorder (see assessment tools for a complete list of the qualifying symptoms). Please use the Treatment information tab for more information on this special program. So people prefer to see me and not participate in the state-funded program and that can be done as well.
October 2018 update
At this time I am offering telephone and skype sessions but no longer am accepting new patients for in person-office based sessions. I still offer a lot of flexibility regarding appointment times, however these would have to be private payment and not eligable for the state program. I am not currently able to particpate in the free program but might resume in late 2019, it is not clear yet. To access the free California program please call 1-800-gambler. You can also connect with me for a personalize referral. Please see the treatment section for further information. Please call me directly at 310-446-3887 for a free intial phone call (allow about 20 minutes) to learn more about treatment services
Some thoughts on my work helping gamblers and their families:
Gambling problems are treatable. Most people can recover from it, although many will have to experience at least some cycles of relapse-recovery before they finally stop. Unfortunately, some patients do not recover, but most can and do. When I first started to do this work, I would ask patients 'do you want to stop or learn to control the gambling?' I learned the hard way that this was not the right approach and do not work this way anymore. But do not worry if you are not feeling like you want to stop or that you can, or are not ready, most people that see me can not imagine never gambling again so we will work hard to find gentle ways of making changes so that it is possible to be very happy without gambling.
I feel blessed to have found a line of work that I love. I enjoy my work and feel grateful every time a patient invites me into their lives. I look forward to hearing from you soon.I have a wide range of understanding about psychological problems and can work with issues beyond the gambling problem once that is stabilized.
Thank you for stopping by I look forward to connecting personally with you so please do take that next step and contact me. I am available to speak with you on the phone if you would like to discuss your situation with me directly.
Eric Geffner, Ph.D., CCGC, NCGC
California State Licensed Clinical Psychologist, PSY15581
California Certified Compulsive Gambling Counselor, CCGC
Nationally Certified Problem Gambling Counselor, NCGC Supervisor for the State of California Gambling Treatment Program
Decided to quit but not quite sure where to start? Maybe you are looking for some extra strategies to stay away from gambling. This section will give you some of the tools for quitting.
Wanting to stop
Deciding to stop doing something you enjoy can be challenging, there may be times when it feels impossible but remember lots of people have quit gambling and we can help you.
How To Stop Gambling Now Legal
Do your best to stay away from gambling, the ideal outcome is that you stay away. However if you do revert to gambling don’t get down on yourself. You can always get back on track and use the experience to learn how to stop next time.
It is helpful to know lapses are normal and can happen at any time when you are trying to quit.
When lapses occur, becoming aware of the triggers that lead you to gamble can help you manage urges more effectively in future situations.
To give yourself the best chance of sticking to your new path, try some of our strategies for change.
The urge to gamble
How To Stop Gambling Cold Turkey
As with quitting smoking, people who stop gambling experience urges to gamble. Urges are an inevitable part of stopping gambling and a natural part of the process of regaining control.
Every time you overcome an urge, you are gaining more and more control.
While you can restrict your exposure to gambling triggers, you will not be able to avoid them completely, which is why it is important to learn ways of managing the urges.
Below are a few different strategies you can try:
Delaying the decision
Delaying the decision to gamble allows time for the urge to pass and for you to feel more in control of the decision. This is different to urge surfing as the focus is on the person using distraction from the urge to gamble rather than letting it pass without distraction.
Distraction takes the focus temporarily away from the urge and can give you time to rethink your decision to gamble.
Try the following next time you have the urge to gamble:
- Relax and focus on staying calm.
- Take some deep breaths to slow yourself down and refocus on what you can do now.
- Try to distract yourself with an activity to keep calm, such as a shower or a bath. Or you may read a book, cook or watch a TV show to stop thinking about gambling. Find an activity that suits you.
- Say to yourself 'maybe I won't go, I will see how I feel in an hour' and then go and do something else.
Remember you may find the urge returns when you stop the other activity. If this happens, perhaps try the urge surfing technique as above.
Set a goal that you can achieve if you stop gambling or develop a list of reasons why you made the decision. For example:
- I will have more money to put towards a holiday.
- I will be able to hold my head up high.
- My family will be proud.
- I will be able to pay my bills.
- As my savings begin to grow money will have value once again.
Staying quit
How To Stop Gambling Forum
Remember urges do not usually last longer than one hour.
DELAY
+
DISTRACT
=
STAYING STOPPED
Once you have decided to delay the decision to gamble, shift your attention to what you might like to do. It might be something you used to do before gambling became a problem or something you've always wanted to try.
Many people find engaging in sport fulfilling; this could be anything that gets you moving. From a daily walk or run to joining a gym or team sport.
When you feel an urge, do something else immediately and keep the following in mind:
- Limit access to money
- Surf the urge
- Distract from the urge
- Seek support from someone you feel you can trust. You don't have to call someone to talk to them about experiencing an urge. You might just want to ring and talk about something completely unrelated to gambling.
Not sure about what activities you can do when dealing with an urge? Maintaining change and our healthy hobbies blog have some useful tips.
The first time you experiencing an urge subside, without gambling, will be a powerful experience.
How To Stop Gambling Online
People who have slowly overcome the urge to gamble say that their thinking becomes clearer and that they are more confident with each urge they conquer, setting them up to beat the next one.
You can learn to manage urges by being aware of an increased desire to gamble, some people say
an urge is like an adrenaline rush. It can be so exciting and difficult to resist.
Learning to cope with urges when they arise is a crucial component to staying quit.
Think of an urge as being like a wave. Urges can start off as nothing, perhaps a gentle ripple out to sea but as they come closer to shore they get bigger and bigger, until they break.
To stay in control, you need to learn to ride that wave into shore rather than get dumped.
If you are trying to surf the urge it’s helpful to remember:
How Do I Stop Gambling Now
- It is important to stay with the urge until it passes by itself; this may take up to an hour the first time.
- Each time you resist gambling and the urge subsides it loses its power.
- The more you resist, the stronger you can become. If you give into the urge and gamble that urge takes control again, but you can take control of it next time.
It is important to limit your access to any cash when you begin the process of surfing the urge as money makes the urges more difficult to resist.
If you do experience an urge and would like assistance, you can contact an online counsellor for more information and support.