Returning back to gambling after quitting

[Fivestar4everMVP]

Have you read that Bible chapter and verse that talked about the demon Jesus christ casted out of a man, that after a while, probably some days, weeks, months or years, the demon returned to check on the man and realized that the man was empty, and the demon went and brought seven more demons stronger than itself, and they all possessed the man again, and we were told that the later state of the man became worser than the former.. This is the story of a person I used to know..

Few days ago, I meet someone I used to know a long time ago after loosing contact for a long time, he was a gambler back then but before we lost contact, he stopped gambling as he found out he was gradually becoming addicted as at that time..

Long story short, I found his profile on Facebook, I messaged him and we started chatting, it turned out he now lived in the same city where I live, reconnected and meet again few days ago, he had grown very lean like someone who was sick or doesn't feed well, I tried to find out what the problem is with him and I found out he is now a chronic gambling addict, I tried finding out from him what lead him back to gambling but he simply said it's a long story and wouldn't say anything anymore...

And within myself, I am still wondering, what could possibly lead a person back to gambling after successfully quitting initially? Know well the reason for initially quitting was addiction, does it make sense to go back to gambling and become even more addicted?

[Wiwo]

The first time he said he quite gambling, he was not sincere to himself to identify what the problems was with him and how poor he may have become with his financial management, i believe the reason why most people thinks they are addicted is simply because losses experience hit them, a huge financial loss can cause someone to think he is addicted, aside from that their no justifications to quiting gambling.

sliding back to gambling activities again is quite easy and possible for them and since they could not control themselves earlier, nothing will change now either.

I hope you were able to educate him a bit on the need to take his physical condition seriously and make changes to improve his finances since whay you noticed in him are financially solvable not as if he have mental disorder from the gambling addictions.

[Frankolala]

It's possible for someone to start gambling again after he has quitted gambling because he noticed that he might get addicted. Since, he quitted, he might feel that he can overcome the challenge of addiction unknown to him that self control and discipline is not an easy practice. The problem is that he couldn't control himself after going back which made him addicted. However, only him can tell you the reason why he started gambling again.

[Fivestar4everMVP]

The first time he said he quite gambling, he was not sincere to himself to identify what the problems was with him and how poor he may have become with his financial management, i believe the reason why most people thinks they are addicted is simply because losses experience, a huge financial loss cant cause someone to think he is addicted, aside from that their no justifications to quiting gambling.

sliding back to gambling activities again is quite easy and possible for them and since they could not control themselves earlier, nothing will change now either.

I hope you were able to educate him a bit on the need to take his physical condition seriously and make changes to improve his finances since whay you noticed in him are financially solvable not as if he have mental disorder from the gambling addictions.

No, not at all bud, he is not suffering from mental disorder, he's attitude and behavior looked perfectly fine, he speaks well too, I did not notice any discrepancies or reasons that may be suggesting he is not mentally OK, he is to the best of my observation..

The problem is that he is obviously spending too much money on gambling, and this is costing and causing him to be going through a serious financial hardship, he is working and earning money (though I don't know how much) but all of this money is spent on sports betting and local lotto betting, the one we locally know as baba ijebu, I know this because when I went to his house, I found the tickets littered all over the place in his bed sitter apartment...
A gambler who values gambling way more than their own well-being will be very hard to talk out of gambling..

[Zaguru12]

And within myself, I am still wondering, what could possibly lead a person back to gambling after successfully quitting initially? Know well the reason for initially quitting was addiction, does it make sense to go back to gambling and become even more addicted?

This paragraph definitely has answered your question, he wasn’t not sincere about quitting because it definitely requires lots of sacrifices to sincerely quit gambling like quenching the thirst that makes you yarn for it, so once you don’t come it means you have sincerely quit. From this your story it is more looking like he is not heading to addiction as he said but actually addicted already, because it is an addicted person that can simply decide to genuinely quit and turn back to it again.

In general why people take this route or u turn is simply because most of them still see gambling as a way to make quick flip of money with it, once there is this mentality whenever the person is down financial they will be looking towards gambling for quick money this are people that do not quit even when they wish except they actually go strict with quitting

[Stalker22]

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And within myself, I am still wondering, what could possibly lead a person back to gambling after successfully quitting initially? Know well the reason for initially quitting was addiction, does it make sense to go back to gambling and become even more addicted?

Well, the main point of the parable you took from the Bible is that it is not enough to simply get rid of evil or bad habits.  You have to replace them with something good.  If you dont fill the void, something worse will eventually take its place.

It is possible that this is what happened in the case of the guy you mentioned.  After taking the step of eliminating his gambling addiction, he failed to take the next step of filling the void with something good that would give him pleasure.  The thrill, the risk, the instant gratifcation was part of his routines and his psychology.  He did not replace with a new passion, a new purpose, or even just a new hobby that gave him the same thrills, so when the gambling "demon" returned, it did not find an empty house; it found a ready welcome.

[rachael9385]

Gambling addiction isn't really easy to stop and there are lots of people that relapse after quitting for a long time due to different reasons. It's important for you to identify your triggers and work on blocking them off mentally. It's possible to get back to gambling become even worse. A lot of people go through this and it's very frustrating because it seems like they are taking a step forward and then steps backwards

[Joy_learns_crypto]

That is forceful quitting. He never wanted to quit he probably did that because he wanted to please people that were hoping he quit. I don’t know what type of gambler he was before but for him to be very popular to you as a gambler he probably was an indisciplined gambler but rather than face that and see how he can become a responsible gambler you he decided to force a stop that is a temporary solution than can even affect him psychologically. You all should try to help him become discipline.

[Mia Chloe]

Have you read that Bible chapter and verse that talked about the demon Jesus christ casted out of a man, that after a while, probably some days, weeks, months or years, the demon returned to check on the man and realized that the man was empty, and the demon went and brought seven more demons stronger than itself.

First let's rule out the fact that basically no religion supports gambling with the most popular Christianity and islam, and based on this from the perspective of religious beliefs basically no one practicing any would be a gambler. It's basically because of this I usually don't like to pull up gambling and religion in same discussion because they just don't mix.

That being said, people hardly abandon addiction and most times they can be naive to say they wish to reduce their involvement after a while but the fact is it doesn't turn out positive most times. Going back to addiction means it wasn't addressed rather it was only put on hold for a while.

[DPHOR]

If you must know one thing possible that could lead a man back to gambling after quitting for some years or that has everly quite gambling could be due to the economic situation, which implies lack of job and no means of survival and they could use that medium to fuel their gambling to know whether if they could have a chance of making any winning from gambling again. But guess what? The reverse case is the opposite where it would turned to worst on them and of course the Bible verse you used fully narrate what just happened to him.

[Ultegra134]

Gambling addiction isn't really easy to stop and there are lots of people that relapse after quitting for a long time due to different reasons. It's important for you to identify your triggers and work on blocking them off mentally. It's possible to get back to gambling become even worse. A lot of people go through this and it's very frustrating because it seems like they are taking a step forward and then steps backwards

I believe this is the most accurate reply so far. Just like with any other similar addiction, such as smoking or drinking, relapsing is extremely common. It could happen for a variety of reasons, with some of them being peer pressure, mental illnesses such as depression, loneliness etc. Addictions are usually paired with something else, such as depression that I mentioned earlier, which is why it's so difficult to effectively quit once and for all, and never look back. Relapses are devastating and just like you mentioned, it becomes even worse, you're taking multiple steps backwards. It's awful and sometimes this back and forth behaviour may last years before effectively dealing with it (if you do).

[Stepstowealth]

And within myself, I am still wondering, what could possibly lead a person back to gambling after successfully quitting initially? Know well the reason for initially quitting was addiction, does it make sense to go back to gambling and become even more addicted?

It does not make sense, but the truth is that most of these people are unable to control themselves and even when they do not want to gamble, they find themselves still doing it. Keeping to your word or staying disciplined is not something everyone can do on their own, some people actually require special help. One bad thing for those people who need help with quitting, but keep trying on their own is that whenever they try on their own and fail, they loose the confidence that they will be able to stop gambling on their own, so it becomes harder the next time.
People who need help, and know that they cannot do it on their own need to seek the services of special facilities that have been set up for it or professional who have been trained for it.

[DaNNy001]

You can't rush that journey of quitting gambling, it's a step by step process...The first step to making sure that you  quit gambling is by reducing the time you spend gambling...Although there are lots of things that can make someone fall back to gambling and one of them is financial hardship, which includes being in debt and other things that might lead to frustration..But no reason justifies gambling addiction

[boyptc]

Very possible.

There could be reasons why a gambler that has quit for life can be back on it. But I think that the second time around won't be as severe as before.

Because if they've experienced gambling addiction and it has lost them a lot of their possessions, they will do it with extra care.

I also believe that if they're not careful, they'd be more severe just as what the parable has given as an example. But we're not all the same while we can have it as an assurance that an experienced person will definitely be more careful.

[Su-asa]

He didn't quit gambling forever, I'm sure what he did was do quit gambling for just a few months or years if I'm correct. But when he was fully back from gambling it because worster than ever. However in this stage there's nothing you could do to help him, because even if you dash him money he will still gamble with it. Maybe if you can help relocate him from were he stays to someplace new he might be able to limit the way he gamble, but that's if he does not gamble online. This is one of the main reason why if you have stopped something in the past there's no need to going back to it.

[Rockstarguy]

Gambling addiction is a condition that should not happen twice because fighting addiction in the first place is not even easy. Then there's the issue of someone being able to defeat addiction only to later return to gambling and become addicted again. It is a difficult situation that may be too challenging for one to control.

Second-time addiction is stronger than the first, and it takes grace and so much effort to overcome this addiction this time around. If one is free from gambling addiction, it is better to avoid gambling forever and never come close to it because attempting to gamble may develop a strong interest in gambling.

[Mindyspace]

This story touched me deeply, and it really reminded me of the passage you quoted. It's sad to see how addiction can return even stronger, as if the empty space inside a person had been left unprotected. Sometimes, even after quitting, if the root of the emotional, spiritual, or psychological problem isn't addressed, the person remains vulnerable.

Returning to addiction doesn't make rational sense, but addiction doesn't operate logically. It operates through pain, emptiness, and escape. Perhaps, in that weak moment he had, gambling was his way of trying to numb himself from something he didn't want or know how to share.

I think your presence, your contact, can be a light for him. Even if he doesn't want to talk now, just showing you care is a step in itself. And perhaps, over time, he'll be able to fill that space with something more solid than gambling.

I think your return to his life is a good thing; it might even be a good thing for both of you.  

[Findingnemo]

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And within myself, I am still wondering, what could possibly lead a person back to gambling after successfully quitting initially? Know well the reason for initially quitting was addiction, does it make sense to go back to gambling and become even more addicted?

Relapse can happen, and it's quite common if someone used the cold turkey method to stop any kind of addiction, and they have to keep repeating the process unless they are never come back which is hard and extremely exhausting but this is how it works for 90% of people. And why he became lean doesn't make sense to me, and chronic gambling addict is not a real thing!

Or it could be a complete lie, he said that he quit but in reality, he was doing it all the time which is also quite possible.

[Slow death]

Quitting addiction is not an easy task. I've had addicted relatives who took years to recover. We spent years chasing them to recover. When we put them in a rehab clinic for months, they were cured. It turns out that when they met with an addicted friend, they would return to the world of addiction and disappear from home. We spent months searching for them until, when we found them, it was a sight that made our eyes and head hurt because his body was so thin.

We would pick him up and put him back in a rehab clinic. This cycle only ended the day he died. Months ago, I realized that one of my relative's employees was an addict. The guy doesn't want to quit the addiction even though he sees that his body and mind are slowly failing.

[JunaidAzizi]

When you see something bad and want to leave, you need a stronger belief and the decision not to go back to it. But your friend didn't decide this from his heart, maybe he just normally says he stopped, but there may be some other situation, like he may need some quick money and hasn't arranged it from somewhere else. His last option might be gambling to earn instant money, and that could be the reason behind his addiction. Other than quick money, no one will go to casinos for entertainment. If he is really guilty and you have already met with him, then give him some positive activities to keep him busy. If he starts to take an interest in other things, then eventually his desires for gambling will move far from it.