20 Questions

If you answer yes to some or all of these questions, Gam-Anon may be for you. Gam-anon is a fellowship for families, relatives and close friends who live and have lived with the gambling problem. We would like you to feel that we understand as perhaps few can and that Gam-Anon can offer you a new way of life.

Did you grow up with a compulsive Gambler?

Perhaps you have difficulty deciding if you were affected by compulsive gambling during childhood. The following questions may help you to determine whether compulsive gambling affected your childhood and may still be affecting your present life.

  1. Were you often missing money?
  2. Did you hide your money?
  3. Were you ever asked to lend money to a parent to pay a bill or debt?
  4. Did you know that if you loaned money to a parent or paid a bill that the money would not be repaid?
  5. Were you told that there was a bank account for you and when you were older discovered that the money was removed?
  6. Were you promised gifts or necessities that were never given?
  7. Did your family activities revolve around playing cards, watching sports on TV, participating in the lottery or other gambling activities?
  8. Did your family vacations center around gambling activities?
  9. Was a parent away from home for unexplained periods of time?
  10. Do you remember many family activities where both parents were not involved?
  11. Did your parents fight about money?  Did you feel responsible?
  12. Do you become entangled in your parent's money or financial issues?
  13. Did you stay alone alot so you didn't have to explain your home life to anyone else?  Did you avoid bringing friends home?
  14. When you were growing up, did you ever feel that everyone depended on you to hold he family together?
  15. Did your parents use you as a sounding board for their marriage?
  16. Do you feel more like the parent than the child?
  17. Do you feel your relationship with your family is a lie?
  18. Are you attracted to people who gamble, or have other compulsions, or are needy?
  19. Is it difficult to trust people?  Do you feel that you can never trust anyone totally?
  20. Do you obsess about money?  Do you feel that you can never have enough money?

If you answered yes to some or all of these questions, Gam-Anon may be for you. We would like you to feel that we understand as perhaps few can.

Are you living with a Compulsive Gambler?

  1. Do you find yourself constantly bothered by bill collectors?
  2. Is the person in question often away from home for long, unexplained periods of time?
  3. Does this person ever lose time from work due to gambling?
  4. Do you feel that this person cannot be trusted with money?
  6. Does this person ever gamble longer than he or she intended to, until the last dollar is gone?
  7. Does this person immediately return to gambling to try to recover losses, or to win more?
  8. Does this person ever gamble to get money to solve financial difficulties or have unrealistic expectations that gambling will bring the family material comfort and wealth?
  9. Does this person borrow money to gamble with or to pay gambling debts?
  10. Has this person's reputation ever suffered due to gambling, even to the extent of committing illegal acts to finance gambling?
  11. Have you come to the point of hiding money needed for living expenses, knowing that you and the rest of the family may go without food and clothing if you do not?
  12. Do you search this person's clothing or go through his or her wallet when the opportunity presents itself, or otherwise check on his/her activities?
  13. Does the person in question hide his or her money?
  14. Have you noticed a personality change in the gambler as his or her gambling progresses?
  15. Does the person in question consistently lie to cover up or deny his or her gambling activities?
  16. Does this person use guilt induction as a method of shifting responsibilities for his or her gambling upon you?
  17. Do you attempt to anticipate this person's moods, or try to control his or her life?
  18. Does this person ever suffer from remorse or depression due to gambling, sometimes to the point of self-destruction?
  19. Has the gambling ever brought you to the point of threatening to break up the family unit?
  20. Do you feel that your life together is a nightmare?