cheering those four days I was glued to
my phone constantly surfing the latest
news on Bitcoin I was loading up on
ritalin and drinking quite a lot of
alcohol I was really starting to feel
like there was an impending doom of the
world so you were gambling the
cryptocurrency star with the comment was
going up and down this game so far at
all
I was did 19 to December and on the 25th
of December I was walking in today in
Australia asking was London to you
that's how bad things got cryptocurrency
can be an addiction we started the
cryptocurrency program here at Castle
Craig just about a year ago this is when
we really started to look at it in a
more serious form it was crazy at the
time I was taking cocaine I draw you
couldn't sleep after it was just on
Bitcoin I was manic but I pre kids kind
of wife it's like an beta if you're
predisposed to addiction they will just
grasp you and I won't let you go and it
will destroy your life
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Castle Craig hazard hospital in Scotland
we deal mainly in addiction drug
addiction alcohol sex we also deal with
PTSD gambling cryptocurrency so I
haven't seen any studies for
cryptocurrency addiction and I think
possibly that we're one of the first
places to actually acknowledge that
there is a problem there can bitcoins
rise be too good to be true this year
and the price of Bitcoin is appreciated
something on the order of a Bitcoin may
rise for Bitcoin believers but this is
the future I didn't already know
anything about the confusion about what
bitcoin is part currency part Bitcoin
can be converted to cash when deposited
into accounts at prices setting are not
have any choice but to be using it in
the future so as the funds became
available started to drop my advice to
people is never invest in things you
don't understand
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my first batch was when I was 13 years
of age I've got a problem my phone and I
cannot pool and it didn't matter for won
or lost and rush in the excitement of
having it on the first time I realized
what bitcoin and got an order of drugs
from the dark web in 2015-16 it was like
9,000 Australian dollars left in their
wallet and it was only when it was
around a Christmas that it was rising up
to 15,000 that I went looking for my
wallet was validly over 2 million bucks
and that's where I was like hang on kind
of like this thing is just about to
crash it hasta I saw this price going up
and up and up and I would shorten the
cunny
two days before dropped I was betting on
it every pint of leg down I got in Roy's
letters
I'm heading hard to 5-under grandmother
just pulled off the best short of all
time the last room
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it kind differently slid me in another
addiction tag to deploy me meeting my
rock bottom the courting for me was
getting a gifted inspiration and when
you get to give to desperation really
realizes only one game in town isn't
there and it's life you've not tried so
I don't want to live in a taunt but
seven o'clock in the morning routine is
huge for me every other normal person in
the world Isis their may get up in
the morning or 10:00 today it's quite
important to just keep things going the
same way as much as you can
the minute I start thinking about Paula
should do next we've got a problem I
need to have the plan made from
yesterday really I need to know what I'm
doing today and I know what I'm doing
today now until bedtime pretty much in
the castle here is to really detox after
I'm feeling excited about the meditation
having breakfast with the patients you
know just trying to show them that there
is hope because when I came and I didn't
think there was hope
well given a patient in a suit yesterday
predicament Robin
Irish humors coming out no I liked him
in an absolute heap o cocaine
gambling adderall valium I felt very
obsessive personally I never understood
that I had an addiction I worked maybe
18 18 hours a day for a long time I was
taking cocaine I was drinking and I was
acting a fool because it was just a
release valve I didn't really understand
that I was an addict I was here probably
four weeks five weeks before the penny
drafters you know everything was a
problem
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I'm very fortunate actually a therapist
in an addiction center now so I'm using
lots of my experience within that
journey that I've had in my life and
amusing and a positive form growing up
my father being an alcoholic in
compulsive gambler we we don't really
have much in our lives and from a very
young age I find money could get me
things when I was 18 a step through into
the casino for the first time and
Sapphire in this poker table and I
thought I'm at home you this is it this
is what I was meant to be doing and my
gambling and Michael cocaine just took
off
i Tom took me to this place that I
didn't have to think about anything else
all I thought about was the next bet it
was insanity but it wasn't about the
money it was about the risk probably
been about ten patients so far that have
had crypto addiction which falls under
the gambling but none of us none of them
thought they had a problem to start with
with with the cryptocurrencies it wasn't
until we actually explored their
gambling habits that we found actually
the cryptocurrencies ones that they they
get the most buzz out of the most
excitement because of the fluctuations
going up and down here you can see the
volatility off the cryptocurrencies this
is obviously the Bitcoin one this is
like 2017 to 2018
and this is for gamblers love you know
the highs and the lows and what it does
is my dopamine's insight you know the
adrenaline in my brain the front part my
brain where the pleasure-seeking part is
no the more that this goes up and down
the more I love it is not about the
money anymore is about getting that
fixed is exactly the same as a drug
addict
cryptocurrency was I suppose the first
marker of a a serious problem there has
come well it's a struggle day today like
have some things I don't think I've ever
been present in my kids lives or with my
wife I don't think I've ever been in the
moment with them I've always been
woodwork life is quite boring and
finding and it gets at times that I need
to run to a gym for an hour to kind of
reboot my torch and understand among the
problems so that day that you really got
the acceptance that you were an addict
you were running around the hospital and
you were say she's telling it I'm an
addict yes and that meant everything for
me my life my behaviors everything had
to change ah it wasn't just cooking it
wasn't just gambling it wasn't just
alcohol you really got that
understanding and we used earlier
how this works is you know the main
therapy and here is in the groups it's
what we do in the groups good morning
everyone
the cycle of gambling addiction we've
hit the front page here we've got the
winning the losing phase the desperation
phase destitution phase and then the
recovering things for me was more than
winning money it was above sitting in
the period of time from when the bet was
on in the morning on 10 the match came I
had a reason to be in the pulp and I
fitted into the gang and that elation
and that feeling jury waiting for it to
come if I won or last it didn't matter
it just went onto the mist straight away
so it's this social aspect that we have
to be part of something it's fun it's
exciting but then we come to the losing
phase at this point negative behavior
occurs I started lying cheating for me
was not about the winning or losing it
was about the period of time that I was
overcome reality yes
the good thing with taking cocaine or
alcohol is that there's a hangover
period and with gambling the shame the
Chitauri sorb relief for such a long
time that it's really hard for you you
live it in silence me there's my
daughter we're gonna come to the
recovery stage cuz there is a way out of
this there is a gate that we can open
and I believe is this 12-step program
the first step the foundation of
everything is the acceptance that I have
a problem
the 12-step program I have seen work on
millions and millions of people it's not
about God it's not by religion this is
just about us helping each other you
have to remember this is only my opinion
this is not going away anytime soon this
addiction has no barriers they will take
anybody I believe that if you're not
happy in the present and being and you
need to be doing an activity like
gambling or craving or doing something
to make you feel contented as a as a
father
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