The harms from problem gambling can include suicide, depression, relationship breakdown, lowered work productivity, job loss, bankruptcy and crime. Suicide rates among gambling addicts are staggeringly high. Studies have estimated that one in five problem gamblers attempt to kill themselves, which is about twice the rate of other addictions.

In all the despair it can be hard to find a way through.

Hopelessness can overtake you when there seems to be no answer. When we are under great stress we can tie all our thoughts together, causing confusion and anxiety. Our mental capacity becomes jammed, and sorting through all of the issues can be overwhelming. When this happens we can become immobilised and depressed, solutions to our problems are then obscured by our negative thinking.

Our own thoughts become part of the problem.

That's why seeking an objective opinion is crucial. Being lost alone in the forest can be scary, we need guidance from someone who has an informed view of things. Some one who can help us sort out the forest from the trees. Often when we are in a panic we miss vital clues that can show us the way through the woods. And the way out is often a lot simpler than we realise.

Have you considered?

• Financial advice
• Legal advice
• Contacting a Gambling Help counsellor
• Contacting a close friend
• Visiting your doctor
• speaking to your minister/priest

Where you are now may be a dark and scary place, but nothing stays the same forever.

You have come to where you are through a process of events - it didn't just happen 'out of the blue'. It was a process of changes that occurred throughout your life that got you to where you are now, and it will be a process of changes that will get you out. You may say today, "I am a problem gambler", but would this statement have been true when you were 3 years old? Of course not! You've changed - and believe it or not you are still changing. If you were not changing gambling would mean the same to you as it did when you had your first experience of it.

The fact that you are reading this page is evident that you are no longer happy with gambling - your life is changing. That's what life is, a process of change.

Change is inevitable.

Consider an object as static and lifeless as the chair you are sitting on. Do you think it has never been anything else? Do you think it will never be anything else? Have you considered what this chair was 100 years ago or even 10 years ago? And what will it be in another 100 years?

Now that's just a chair. How much more are you than a simple chair, and how much more you are than just a 'Problem Gambler'? What else are you; a parent, a sibling, wife, husband, son, daughter, teacher, plumber, chef, a joker, a lover? Consider all the things that you are, and all the things you want to be.

The crucial question is, "Do you really want to die, or is it that you want the pain to go away?"

If you want things to change you have to do something different. At present, doing anything different may seem all too much, so doing nothing until you get help may be what's best for you. However, if nothing changes then nothing changes. If you don't get help and if you continue doing what you are doing, you will create the same painful results for yourself.

It may be helpful for you to know that research shows a large majority of people who seek professional help with their compulsive gambling overcome the problem. Many people have restored their life from situations that would seem helpless. Often when we see others 'do the impossible' we can gain inspiration and realise the truth, that there is a way out.

Suicide is a final thing. Unlike many other choices you've made, you can't undo this once it's done, and you can't alter the consequences. So you need to be very sure about this decision. Have you considered how taking your life would affect others? Are you pushing your suffering on to them? Is this just another quick fix that only brings on more suffering - just like your gambling?

There is help.

No-one else can feel how you're suffering right now. Nobody can experience what you are experiencing. But there are people who have walked the same path that you are now on, they have come back from the despair and brink of suicide. You are not alone.

Police/Ambulence	000
Suicide Call Back Service	1300 659 467
Lifeline	13 11 14
Mensline	1300 78 99 78
Kids Helpline	1800 55 1800
Beyond Blue	1300 22 4636
Gambling Help	1800 858 858