My husband's gambling addiction is ruining our relationship

DEAR DEIDRE: My husband is in complete denial about his gambling addiction and it’s ruining our relationship.

Not only have his habits left us in debt, but they’ve turned him into a nasty, aggressive man that I barely even recognise.

All I want is the man I love back but every time I try to reason with him he refuses to admit he has a problem.

I’m 45, he’s 50 and we’ve been married for 20 years. We have two teenage children together.

I first found out about his habit when I was checking our bank statement and noticed large sums of our money disappearing out of our account.

He promised that he had it all under control but, I’ve noticed our savings account keeps going down.

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Now we can’t afford a newer car now and our old one is about to die. Still he refuses to stop.

I can’t understand why he’s being so reckless and I’m worried sick that if something doesn’t change we’ll be in serious debt soon.

How can I get through to him?

MORE FROM DEAR DEIDRE

DEIDRE SAYS: His addiction is clearly taking a toll on you and spoiling your lives.

I’d urge you to ring fence your remaining savings until he has this under control?

Unless and until he accepts he needs help, things won’t improve. In fact, they will only get worse.

While you can’t force him to seek help, you can find support for yourself.

My support pack, Gambler In The Family, has useful information.

I’m also sending you my support pack Gambling Problems? which has more advice.