Mental Health And Addiction Treatment
I once had an amazing life. I was married to the most beautiful woman. Everything about it was so perfect that I never thought it could end with an addiction that continued growing over time. I no longer had that safe environment and my relationships with family members and other loved ones were damaged. The challenges were overwhelming.
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Addiction is a condition of not having control over doing, taking, or using something harmful. There are many types of addictions, abuse of drugs, substance abuse, and alcohol abuse just to name a few. One of the major symptoms of addiction is spending excessive amounts of money on something, but in my case, it was gold bars.
Addiction Counseling Helps
In mid-March last year, a friend introduced me to the gold bar collection. At first, I was hesitant because I found the hobby a little over the top. I do have a nice job as a teller in the bank, and I pretty much understand how each gold bar is valued. So at that time, I was like, “Okay, I’ll try collecting some.”
How The Hobby Affected My Mental Health
Now comes my addiction to gold and how I turned to addiction counseling. Having pieces of gold bars made me realize how much I am into the hobby – and how much I needed addiction treatment.
So my friend and I invested and bought a lot ( and I first realized my addiction here). We were so certain that we wanted to have tons of gold bars in our possession. Then we met Carlo. He was a gold bar enthusiast who also had many connections.
The first couple of transactions were smooth, and everything was doing great. Addiction counseling didn’t come in yet and I never thought It would lead to receiving treatment and going to family therapy sessions. So my friend and I ended up trading all our hard-earned money for dozens of gold bars.
Days before the said transaction, my wife, who was always my support system, told me that it would be a risk since I put everything, including our family savings, we had on the line. My wife was so worried that she said I should stop with my gold bar addiction (she actually mentioned addiction therapy at that time) and said I might be dealing with a mental illness (addiction). But I didn’t listen to her when she suggested online family therapy sessions and shrugged it off. Instead, I assured her that we would live a wealthy life once we get all those gold bars. My other family members were also bothered and had shown their support by reaching out to substance abuse counselor or professionals to inquire about treatments.
So the day of the transaction finally came, and my friend and I were so excited to finish the deal. We enchased all our money, and I even put up my family house for additional collateral for the said transaction. Unfortunately, we got scammed, and all the money we invested was gone just like that. It was a devastating moment for me that I broke down. I couldn’t believe what just happened – I destroyed my family’s lives. I trusted the wrong people, and my gold bar addiction took a very damaging effect on my life and my relationships. The complete stress and anxiety crept on all of us.
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Addiction Counseling Services
The Unfortunate Result Of My Addiction
After that incident, I went bankrupt. I couldn’t pay my bills, and I had difficulty finding money to feed my family. I was broke that I couldn’t even put food on the table for my family. Everything was out of my control, and I was slowly losing my sanity. I tried asking for help from friends, but all of them refused to help me. Most of my family members blamed me for being so naïve and obsessed.
I slowly began to feel depressed and the depression grew and became one of the most debilitating mental health disorders. I still want to get my gold bars back, so I was selling some of the stuff. I sold my car and some furniture in the house. I even sold some properties that my wife had even before we got married. When she found out, it was too late. There was nothing left on the properties because I used all of them for collateral for the debt I was into after the tons of money I lost in the gold bar scam. But that struggle could not stop me from my addiction.
Gold Addiction Counseling
There was this one time that I had to lie to my parents and asked money from them and told them that I would use the money for business investment. But then, I put up the cash to buy some pieces of gold bars that I found in the underground market. Unfortunately, what I got were fake gold bars. When my parents found out that the money they saved for their retirement was now gone, they stopped talking to me because they couldn’t control my gold bar addiction anymore.
But I was hesitant and continued looking for another source to get pieces of it.
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Addiction Counseling
Refusing Addiction Counseling and online therapy
One day, after I was out running some errands, I found that my wife and children left me. It was about time that they finally decided to leave me alone because I couldn’t help myself – I lost my support. My wife had been pushing me to do addiction counseling, but I refused to even talk to a therapist. I believed it was a sham. I entirely ruined my life just because of wanting to have a lot of gold bars in my hand.
Final Thoughts On Addiction Counseling
Surely, not all individuals would understand my situation. But it was too late when I realized my addiction to gold bars. It was not something a person could easily identify. I wish I had listened to my wife when she said I should seek addiction counseling. Addiction counseling cover treatment could have helped me a lot with my addiction. Addiction counseling and additional resources related to it could have saved my marriage.
Talking To Addiction Counselors On The Treatment Process
Through the help of a mental health counselor with clinical experience who offered emotional health care support and helped me learn to develop strategies in coping and communication skills to treat my underlying different issues. I am grateful to the licensed psychotherapy experts or psychiatrists and support groups that guided me and were with me throughout the treatment programs. I am on my way to being a better, cleaner, and responsible person because of the effectiveness of addiction counseling.