SUGGESTED READING AND LISTENING:

Suggested reading and listening: The books and music listed below have been suggested by our readers and recommended for reading and listening to help us understand our addictions.

CONFESSIONS OF A SLOT MACHINE QUEEN, Sandra Adell

 

Told against her background as an unwed and uneducated teen mother from Detroit, Sandra Adell's memoir, CONFESSIONS OF A SLOT MACHINE QUEEN, describes how she went from having no interest in gambling to risking everything she had worked for after playing the slots and winning a small jackpot. We watch as she struggles against the lure of the slots only to get seduced time and again until she finally spirals out of control and is forced to confront the demons that lay beneath the surface of her professional persona as a university professor. Confessions of a Slot Machine Queen is as much a story of redemption as it is a critical examination of the casino gambling industry and the potential dangers of this new and high-tech form of entertainment. 

I’ve been clean a little over a year. It took me at least ten years of working at and not working at my recovery to reach this point. It was only as I researched my new memoir/self-help guide, She Bets Her Life: a true story of gambling addiction that I finally understood what had been a big part of my on again, off again approach to getting clean. Understanding Post Acute Withdrawal has made it easier to recognize the inner warning system that tells me I need to dig a little deeper into my recovery!  Now available from bookstores and Seal Press, May 1, 2010    http://shebetsherlife.com/

  

Born to Lose, by Bill Lee

I found Bill Lee’s Born to Lose a riveting book; however, I'm hesitant to give a rousing recommendation to read it. This autobiography is powerful in many ways, and one of them is how vividly he describes his gambling experiences. I don't mean he makes it sound great, anything but - as far as I'm concerned. I just mean that it's so darned "real," it might trigger "the urge" in some people.

I didn't get any urges, BUT when he was detailing his last hand of blackjack ("my" game for most of the years I gambled), I got the same slightly nauseated feeling I've had when - over the last several years - I've gone into a casino for some "legitimate" reason. (For the record the LAST time I did that I decided that I WON'T go into a casino again, unless I'm accompanied by another person - a person who knows I'm a compulsive gambler and is rooting for me in recovery!)

Anyway, as I said, this isn't an unqualified recommendation for this book. Danger may lurk here for some folks. Maybe it would be best to "consult" your HP and/or sponsor if you think you might want to read it, but have some reservations.

All that said, this guy describes his life, his gambling AND HIS RECOVERY in a very powerful way. He manages to share throughout the ways he put himself in danger/on the road to relapses, etc. If one can "safeguard" him/herself against the trigger potential, you can find something on almost every page that constitutes a "lesson" we compulsive gamblers probably need to learn sooner or later. Besides that, he's an extremely good writer! And he believes in the Recovery Steps as much as I do!  (Big-time believer here.)

Born to Lose doesn’t pull any punches, regarding the appalling crash that will occur in the life of a compulsive gambler who doesn’t get stopped and stay stopped. I’m rooting for this author in his recovery; he proved time and again that the only recourse for those of us on the wrong side of the invisible line is: Don’t start gambling, because when we start, we cannot stop.  

Review by our Editor, Betty C.

"Gambling Recovery: Working the Gamblers Anonymous Recovery Program."  by Elizabeth Sanders

This book makes a strong case for working the GA Recovery Steps, whether the reader is a newcomer treasuring a few weeks of abstinence or a Gamblers Anonymous veteran with years in the Fellowship. Most chapters are followed by suggested exercises related to that particular step. Filled with practical advice on incorporating the principles of the steps into the everyday lives of recovering compulsive gamblers, Gambling Recovery also offers uplifting encouragement to pursue the better life 12-step recovery promises. Working the Recovery Program results in transformative change, and readers will experience dramatic improvement in virtually every area of life.

Taking Back Your Life--Women and Problem Gambling 

 

Up-to-date, guided support to help women with a gambling problem achieve the rewards of a hopeful life, free of addiction. Today there are more than five million women in the United States alone who struggle with problem gambling, and this number is increasing as casinos, online card rooms, and other venues continue to multiply. In this groundbreaking book, addiction expert Diane Rae Davis, Ph.D., offers women everywhere the support they need to face this debilitating problem and take the necessary steps to regain control of their lives. Offering information on preventing relapse, finding support groups, and healing relationships with loved ones, Davis uses the most up-to-date research and methods for treatment, sculpted specifically to the needs of women gamblers to help them:

 

*  identify what makes them vulnerable to addiction
*  recognize the costs and consequences of gambling behaviors see what it means to “hit bottom”
*  determine how to begin and continue on the road to recovery using a virtual toolbox of techniques Each section of this user-friendly guide highlights real success stories of women who have gone through the same issues and treatment strategies, and who have discovered the rewards of beating a gambling problem and reclaimed hope for their lives.

Diane Rae Davis, Ph.D., is a professor in the School of Social Work and Human Services at Eastern Washington University.
She has researched and written extensively on addiction and recovery. Much of her work has been on women in recovery from
compulsive gambling.
 

NUMB NO MORE

A great book for the recovering gambler (or for any addiction) when you need the little extra incentive to continue to grow in the program or for changing the character defects that are troublesome. I suggest you take a look at this little gem of a book. I really enjoyed each page.

Kim Pottle  http://www.JaneCares.com

Hats & Eyeglasses

Hats & Eyeglasses (Tarcher/Penguin) is Martha Frankel's hysterically funny and heartbreaking story of how a harmless love affair with poker turned into an online compulsion that drove her to the edge of despair. It has been lauded as "Intimate and exuberant" (O, The Oprah Magazine); "Sparse and honest" (The Associated Press); "Honest and funny" (USA Today), and "Fast paced and amazingly funny" (The New Orleans Times Picayune)  

Visit Martha Frankel's web page: http://marthafrankel.com
 

 

 

 

Women Overpowered By Compulsive Gambling

Readers of  Women Overpowered by Compulsive Gambling will experience a genuine detailed explanation of how gambling affects the lives of women who have become obsessed with their high-stake habit of gambling. The story is told through the authors' eyes as a compulsive gambler with reference to her gambling colleagues. Gambling like any other addiction is overpowering; it can and will drive you to insanity. If you have not succumbed to insanity it just might cause you to consider committing a crime to obtain finances so you may continue with your addiction to gamble; thus leading you closer to the gates of prison or worse yet death.
 

Rosemary A. Cunliffe North Web page:  www.Rosemary A Cunliffe North.com  book may be purchased at www.Xlibris.com  

                   

SANITY MAKES A COMEBACK!

Allison Bottke's Setting Boundaries With Your Adult Children: Six Steps to Hope and Healing for Struggling Parents  and the S.A.N.I.T.Y. Support Group Network are powerful resources to help parents and grandparents who have challenging adult children gain S.A.N.I.T.Y. in a world spinning out of control. Tell a friend in need…help change a life. Visit www.SanitySupport.com.

We have some music written by Debi D. from Arizona.  Debi has written four songs which  tell the story of our struggle to stop this devastating problem.  Check out a sample of her music under 'What's New.'    "These songs can be purchased for download at  http://www.myspace.com/gasister. Anti-trigger scripts and deep relaxation tracks designed to help gamblers deal with grief and self-esteem issues are also available at very reasonable rates. "   

50 Ways to Love Your Mother

Jane Monachelli has packed this little book with practical ideas, not things, to help those who are caregivers for their aging parents and/or relatives. Our loved ones are living longer and we're faced with the dilemma of how to help them enjoy the final season of their lives. This book offers many suggestions and includes helpful information on websites, catalogs, gadgets, etc. It is a perfect gift to a friend who is caring for an elderly parent. It should be offered in retirement homes, nursing homes, and hospitals to caregivers as it would be invaluable to one who is seeking ways to make life better for a loved one. 

Jane Monachelli, M.A., L.P.C., lives in Phoenix, AZ and you may visit her site:   http://www.50waystolove.com

            

 Beyond the Glitz and Glamour of Las Vegas: Death and Addiction

  by Rosemary A. Cunliffe North

A true story of a woman whose worst nightmare comes true with the loss of one of her children. Her son, Andrew, is brutally and senselessly murdered in Las Vegas at the age of twenty-one. In order to escape the harsh reality of a world without her son, the author starts spending time at the casinos. Her addiction to gambling begins slowly but she soon becomes obsessed with a powerful compulsion to gamble. After years of gambling, she finally admits defeat and says: “My name is Rose, and yes, I am a compulsive gambler.”  The Twelve Steps of the Gamblers Anonymous program helps her find recovery, her lost spirit, her family, and her Savior Jesus Christ, and she is rewarded with a much deeper love for her family and a better understanding about her addiction to gambling.  Her book is available through her publisher http://www.wheatmark.com/bookstore  and will soon be listed on http://www.amazon.com and other on-line book stores. 

If anyone would like to contact the author about her book, please do so at:  r.cunliffe@cox.net

 

A Place Where Weeds & Roses Grow -  Joan Spencer, Canada

‘Weeds and Roses’ is a shockingly truthful account of one woman’s downward spiral into pathological addiction, her six years in this self-made hell and her courageous battle to overcome insurmountable odds in order to live addiction free. In the telling of her story the author keeps you on the edge of your seat as chapter by chapter the tension builds and builds. You find yourself wondering what she will think of next to raise money to support her addiction. And just when you think she can’t sink any lower or pull off one more scam she does, each deception more clever and more desperate than the last. ‘Weeds and Roses’ should be required reading for anyone contemplating entering a gambling facility for the first time. The story serves as both a warning as to the dangers lurking in the shadows of “recreational gambling”, and a lifeline to those who have already fallen victim. Ms. Spencer’s “A Place Where Weeds & Roses Grow” can be purchased through her Publisher’s online bookstore at  Windshift Press & Windshift for Writers  It is also available at Amazon.com  or you may order it through a large number of other good booksellers. For a sample chapter or to ask the author a question, Joan welcomes you to contact her at chickchack@shaw.ca

Unbreakable -- A Story of Crime Addiction  by Steve Cattell, England

I recently met Steve Cattell through the Internet, resulting in an exchange of e-mails. He is currently writing a manuscript about the life of crime he led that evolved into a relationship with a Higher Power and an affiliation with Offenders-Anonymous.org.uk   The book Unbreakable will be published in February 2008, and his audience could be anyone who has ever taken anything that didn't belong to them. It's a shocking and painful read but will open your eyes to an addiction problem that has been overlooked by society for generations. Steve spent 24 years in prison, 12 of them in solitary confinement, before he found the help he had asked for at the age of 15. The book will burn an image in your mind and heart on his method of handling pent-up anger. Today he is dedicating endless hours helping young people who are on a self-destructive journey.

If you have any questions about his life story his e-mail address:     steve_cattell@yahoo.co.uk

                     The Shadow of Chance:  The Pathological Gambler--    

  by Julian Taber

Dr. Taber describes the distortions of normal thought, the personal agony, and the social destruction caused by an addiction to gambling action.  He reviews major obstacles to recovery, and the steps necessary to alter the thinking and behavior of the gambler in order to achieve a normal life.