With gambling advertising at an all-time high, a “race that stops the nation” and a society where 73% of all adults have gambled in the last year, it’s not surprising that many people approach Miracle Minds for help with gambling addictions.
Understanding the gambling cycle
At the heart of gambling addiction is a recurring pattern of thoughts and behaviours that has become your autopilot. We understand that when you are caught in this cycle, it feels like you're losing control. You might make promises to yourself to quit, only to find yourself back at the machine or on the app, chasing that next win. The excitement for the possibility of winning masks the cost of losing, even though you consciously know the odds are against you.
What is gambling doing for you that you can’t do for yourself?
Regardless of the addiction or dependency, I will often ask clients to explain what their habit is doing for them that they can’t do for themselves. After some reflection, it’s common for them to reveal that gambling helps alleviate stress, anxiety, boredom, loneliness or enables them to fit in. Some may even reveal that it’s outside their control as their friends do it, or they started gambling following a previous trauma.
At Miracle Minds, we not only address your gambling habit, but also address the underlying cause. This is why we recommend 4-5 sessions to put your gambling habit behind you for good.
The impact of subconscious thoughts on gambling habits. Why hypnotherapy for gambling leads to lasting change
Because you have likely been using gambling to sooth an underlying emotion, your unconscious mind now believes it needs it for you to function. Your conscious mind (you might know this as willpower), is not enough to overpower the nature of your unconscious mind, so you reach for your phone to place another bet when the desire arrives.
It can be difficult to comprehend but your unconscious mind is actually doing what it was designed to do – protect you. Unfortunately, each time you make a conscious decision to place a bet to relieve underlying emotions, you are training your unconscious to believe you need to gamble to feel good. Follow this pattern long enough and a habit is formed.
How hypnotherapy for gambling works
Because your unconscious mind doesn’t use logic or reasoning, and it can’t distinguish between what is real or imagined, I use guided imagery, visualisation and suggestions to encourage changes in your current thoughts, feelings, and behaviours with hypnotherapy.
I like to use metaphors and stories to deliver these suggested changes and one of my favourites is the Fork in the Road. Here I will guide you to the downhill path of continuing the existing habit and what life will look like in 1, 5 or 10 years from now. The alternate path is the uphill path to the right where you have made the decision to quit gambling and looking at what life looks like in 1, 5 or 10 years from now.
Consciously you know which path you want, but under hypnosis you have unconsciously learned a new way of living, and you leave behind the desire to gamble!
Self-regulating practices to complement your hypnotherapy
At Miracle Minds we feel it’s important to leave you with your own toolkit to handle life’s challenges. One of my favourites for handling residual cravings or desires is called the 4Ps:
Postpone your response and put as much time as possible between your craving or desire arriving and your ability to meet it. For example, start by deleting your gambling app to increase the time it takes between the desire to bet and the ability to place the bet.
Pause and focus on breathing. Breathe in for four seconds, hold for four, breathe out for four and hold again for four, then repeat. Even if you find yourself at a club close to the pokies, head in the other direction and find a quiet spot to take a few deep breaths in private.
Preoccupy to distract yourself from your craving to gamble. Go for a walk or jump in the shower, anything that's an easy distraction.
Pick your path. Choose to stay in control and congratulate yourself for making healthier choices.
In the same way that hypnotherapy reduces your unconscious desire, the 4Ps is a simple tool to help with any conscious thoughts you may have to gamble, for example if you feel influenced by others if they are gambling around you. You can read more about the 4Ps here.
If you or someone you know has trouble with gambling and you need urgent help, please visit Gambling Help Online or call 1800 858 858 24/7. If you would like to understand more about how hypnotherapy can help with gambling, please book a free 15-minute consult using the link below.