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Shopaholic. Even the word itself sounds faintly ridiculous, doesn’t it? It is a word frequently bandied affectionately by the most generous husband about a wife who has been on a spree, for as we all know it is usually women who feel most compelled to shop till they drop, don’t we?
It is a word which carries no particular stigma in our buy-with-one-click age of pile-it-high, throwaway fashion, next-day delivery and celebrity-endorsed and media-fuelled clamour for the next, must-have handbag, to-die-for designer sunglasses, or perfect pair of shoes. To say nothing of the coolest designer gadgets and top of the range tech which is practically obsolete the minute you take it out of the immaculate packaging and plug it in.
Consumer culture: Boxing Day sales crowds at the vast Westfield Stratford shopping centre
Yet compulsive shopping, or oniomania, to use its medical name, is as potentially devastating for the individual and their family as alcoholism, compulsive gambling or other addictions such as anorexia and related eating disorders, with which it shares many characteristics.
Aggravated by the rampant consumerism of the last decades, the problem is on the rise and I suspect we are now finally going to have to stop poking fun at the shopaholics and take their problem seriously.
Compulsive shoppers suffer from an inexplicable preoccupation with shopping and spending. They are generally thought to get a dopamine-related high or hit from their purchases. Yet few are ever even used or worn and, once they have their booty home, the post-purchase shopper often collapses in self-recrimination and anxiety about how they are going to pay for their next fix. Around 5.8 per cent of British adults are thought to be affected and cases are on the rise.
Treatment: Scientists have discovered that an Alzheimer's drug can help allay some symptoms of shopaholics
Now, psychiatrists have established that a drug called memantine, originally designed for patients with Alzheimers, may have a significant benefit for shopaholics. Clinical tests have shown improvement in many key symptoms, such as impulsive buying, anxiety and improvements in brain function linked to the impulsive urges and behaviour.
Speaking as someone who has witnessed the pernicious effects of a shopping addiction from extremely close quarters, I am pleased to hear about this breakthrough and equally glad to see the problem being treated seriously for a change, instead of being seen as a bit of a joke and used as a faintly misogynistic put-down.
What worries me is how and why we seem suddenly to be seeing so many cases of this kind of extreme addiction, from apparently simple shopping to the kind of horrific eating disorder which trapped 63 stone teenager Georgia Davis in her own home. Prescribing dementia medication to compulsive shoppers may indeed help, but aren't we simply replacing one addiction with another?
Shopaholic: Star Thompson, who spends 1,000 a week on clothes
Last week, the Daily Mail reported on another 19 year old, Star Thompson, from Wakefield, who had turned to glamour modelling and escort work to support her out of control shopping habit. The teenager spends 1,000 per week on clothes, although she already has wardrobes full of unworn garments, including 200 bras and 15 pairs of 250 Ugg boots.
She was recently given an extraordinary 6,000 as a birthday gift by her family, but she had spent 4,000 of the windfall within hours. 'You only live once', said Star, showing off her crammed cupboards to a tabloid newspaper. True, but what kind of a life can this really be?
Miss Thompson readily admitted that her shopping and spending makes her 'feel better'. Yet like every addict, it seems that she is caught in a tragic cycle of euphoric highs and guilt-ridden lows. Compulsive shopping is reportedly highly addictive, given that the rush and satisfaction of the purchase can disappear as soon as they leave the shop, meaning that they need to make yet another impulsive purchase or locate another trophy buy or bargain to maintain their good mood.
Extraordinarily, the problem was first documented more than 100 years ago but has only been seriously identified and acknowledged as a valid subject for psychiatric research in the last 15 years. Hardly a surprise when you consider the tandem rise of ever-multiplying possibilities for us to buy a whole new range of things we don’t really need and can often barely afford. We can now all shop in ever bigger mega-malls, we can shop on-line, we can even watch television shopping channels all through the night and we can now pay for it all with a swish of our smart phones.
Our culture revolves around consumption. Despite our straitened economic times, we are still surrounded, 24/7, by potent and relentless marketing and advertising which promotes impossibly high material aspirations, creating utterly artificial wants and needs, making young women like Star Thompson feel she is not valid or worthy if she does not possess a particular pair of shoes.
Perhaps Miss Thompson would respond well to the proposed new treatment with Alzheimers medication? She certainly needs some sort of intervention, not least from her parents who appear to be content, and certainly wealthy enough, to continue to underwrite her addiction. But for how much longer?
The sooner the Thompsons, and the rest of society, recognise that shopping in this way and on this scale constitutes a serious psychological problem, the sooner the sufferers will get the help they so clearly need.
Pill popping cures compulsive shopping - Daily Telegraph
Clinical trial results showed after eight weeks, both men and women taking the pills reduced the amount of time shopping and the amount of money spent, the Daily Mail reported.
Overall the effect was said to reduce the symptoms by half, with less impulse buying and fewer impulsive urges, thoughts and behaviour.
"Hours spent shopping per week and money spent shopping both decreased significantly, with no side effects," said a team of psychiatrists from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
Those taking part in the study of nine people aged 19 to 59 were diagnosed with compulsive buying disorder, based on senseless preoccupation' with shopping and spending. This led to distress, an inability to function at work or socially and financial problems.
Compulsive buying affects up to 5.8 per cent of adults, according to studies.
People in the trial earned almost £40,000 a year on average, but were spending 61 per cent of their income on impulsive purchases, mostly clothes.
They were looking for bargains up to 38 hours a week in shops.
Memantine, also known as Ebixa, was originally designed for Alzheimer's and has been approved for use in NHS patients who fail to respond to other treatments.
It acts on the brain chemical glutamate which is thought to be involved in the development of dementia, but it is also believed to be involved in obsessiveness and may play some role in OCD (obsessive compulsive disorders).
Financial crisis: UK can't afford its shopping addiction anymore - Daily Telegraph
It did at one point cross my mind, clutching my three-for-two Christmas ribbon and Per Una underwear on my way to the wine section, that even with 20 per cent off the price of things, that still left 80 per cent to pay.
No matter; I stayed and queued and saved the grand total of £12.50.
When was it that shopping did become a leisure activity, taking over from family, sport, religion, dogs and loafing around with a book as the way people spend their time? More to the point, why did it?
The author Neil Borman, whose book Bonfire of the Brands documented his flight from brand addiction, has released a spoof film about indiscriminate shopping, The Good Consumer.
The voiceover at the start of it declares: "The good consumer is always buying new products. When he is not buying, he is earning money so that he can fund his consumption, or looking for purchases that he can make in future."
Yes, it's heavy handed. But it doesn't feel like a spoof so much as a sober account of the condition of England, recession or not.
A few weeks ago, the retail sector raised a couple of fingers to the credit crunch with the opening of the Westfield shopping centre: two miles worth of expensive shops in a part of London previously known for its proximity to Wormwood Scrubs prison.
The opening was a riot. Another two multi-billion-pound shopping projects kicked off this year – at Liverpool One and Bristol's Cabot Circus – on top of 10 rather smaller shopping-centre openings elsewhere.
And the retail spread is not stopping any time soon; the Westfield developers will be opening another shopping centre on the same scale in Stratford, East London, in 2012.
The recession has clipped our wings, but we're still buying things – although more and more of it is from Primark and Aldi.
Where does it come from, this almost hormonal drive to go shopping, to buy and own more things? Why do we do it?
Men hate it. Children hate it. The shoppers you see in department stores don't give any discernible sign that they're enjoying themselves – bookshops apart. There's something dead around the eyes.
But families will still take themselves off to Bluewater to spend their day of rest – theirs, if not the assistants'.
And if wandering from WH Smith to Scribblers to Boots to Debenham's makes them look like zombies, a working definition of hell would be the shopping centre Christmas sales.
Women queue up at five in the morning to save 50 quid at the Brent Cross Next sales. Why?
The social psychiatrist Oliver James, in his book, Affluenza, squarely attributed much of the high rates of mental illness in Britain and the US to consumerism.
"The Affluenza virus," he says, "is a set of values which increase our vulnerability to psychological distress: placing a high value on acquiring money and possessions... My explanation... is that the virus promotes Having over Being and the confusion (through advertising) of wants with needs."
It wasn't always thus, you know; shopping isn't part of the human condition.
The other week, I was in Walsingham in Norfolk, famous for its shrine to the Virgin Mary. We pottered around the shops after church and before the pub opened – but, this being Sunday, most shops were shut.
And as we browsed the teddy hospital for reclaimed bears and the children's charity shop and the little retail section at the entrance to the priory – three packs of Christmas cards for a pound! – it dawned on me what was missing.
There weren't any chain stores; all the shops appeared to be independent or at least without identical branches in London, Glasgow and Manchester.
The retail equivalent of the M&S discount day will be tomorrow when the Catholic church holds its Christmas (sorry, Advent) Bazaar and the going price for most things will be around two quid.
But then in Walsingham, there is a life that doesn't revolve around shopping: you've got religion, riding, pubs to go to, walks to go on, Women's Institute meetings to attend. Lots of places were once like that.
Funny; it crossed my mind then that the super-luxe section of shops in Westfield is called The Village. Except that village is a parody of the real one.
Tamasin Doe, the former fashion director of Instyle magazine, pinpoints the start of shopaholicism around 25 years ago, during the Eighties, when shopping malls, which had already been around for a decade, began to spread and become a place for the young to hang out. The malls stimulated the collective shopping gland.
"You began," she said, "to be defined by how you shop, and everything else was depleted by it. Everything was defined by acquisition. Shopping became a way to recreate yourself."
The fashion cycle shortened; built-in redundancy became the essence of it, at least for women. The rise of low-cost production in China meant it became cheaper to buy new manufactured goods than to have the old ones repaired.
In fact, for some durables, such as computers, it wasn't actually possible to fix old models; they had to be replaced.
Politics came into it too, notably the 1994 Sunday Shopping Act, which lifted the curbs on Sabbath trading.
It had conscience clauses to prevent people being forced to work on the day of rest, but if you want to hear a not very nice laugh, ask your department-store manicurist or perfume saleswoman whether she can turn down work on Sunday.
At the same time, we got the cult of celebrity. Obviously, there have been pin-ups for the masses – society beauties and cult actors – for well over a century.
But Hello!-style celebdom, being famous for nothing at all, is a comparatively recent phenomenon.
And what celebrities do is shop and be seen to shop and give their endorsement to products that the rest of us can shop for. It's hard to think of images of Wayne Rooney's wife, Colleen, without armfuls of carrier bags.
The symbol and apex of the trend were the It Bags – big, phenomenally ugly handbags that cost from about £300 to £1,500 and had a life cycle of about six months.
Once Britain took to consumerism, it went all the way. Over the past 20 years, the retail sector absorbed 88 million square feet of new space – the equivalent, for those who think in terms of football pitches, of 1,200 of them.
Obviously, you can't have a shopping habit without paying for it – eventually. Because of the liberalisation of credit over the past couple of decades, personal indebtedness is higher in Britain than anywhere in Europe: consumer debt totals £1.5 trillion.
There was a time when, if you wanted to buy something, you had to save up for it. Ten years ago that was seen as almost risibly quaint. Now it looks like rather a sensible thing to do. The demutualisation of the building societies added to the problem.
Don't think I'm being snooty about all this. I was right in there and the upshot in my case is that I have, oh, six credit cards, which cost more to maintain than the baby.
Plainly, the recession has changed things. But only up to a point. One retail analyst, Verdict, estimates that retail-sector growth will fall to 2.4 per cent in 2008 – but that's after 10 years during which average annual growth was about four per cent.
Of the £228 billion we're likely to spend in the shops this year, an estimated £128 million is classed as non-essential, indulgence spending. Even if there's a fall in spending, it's from a very, very high base.
What's the solution? Well, how about going with the grain of the recession, of making do and mending? How about not shopping on Sundays?
Keeping perfectly good clothes even when the fashion roundabout has moved on? Spending time with the family at home? Saving up to buy things?
At the end of all this, we may come to remember that we're more than the sum of our possessions. And that would be a good thing.
Masterplan will boost shopping centre trade - Grimsby Telegraph
A MAJOR retailer is waiting for the opportunity to set up shop in Grimsby, according to a report.
Repositioning the town's bus station could allow for the expansion of Freshney Place shopping precinct and create a further eight outlets.
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New look? An artist's impression of a redesigned Grimsby bus station.
Precinct owners Grosvenor said they supported the masterplan for the area because it would boost trade.
Nearly 40 per cent of the shoppers heading to Freshney Place shopping centre come by bus, according to the precinct's owners.
Grosvenor's projects director, Simon Armstrong, said his firm supported North East Lincolnshire Council's bid for funding because it would bring in further investment and shoppers.
Mr Armstrong said: "At present, the bus station provides a hostile environment for pedestrian shoppers at the western end of the shopping centre and the proposals to upgrade the quality of the public realm and pedestrian amenities are welcomed."
He said his firm was committed to bringing further investment to Grimsby following relocation of the bus station, adding: "Our initial studies suggest there is potential to create a large new store of about 70,000 sq ft and stimulate an investment of £12 million with the creation of 100 jobs.
"In setting out our support for these proposals, we would emphasise the need for a high-quality replacement bus facility."
The new bus station would have to be convenient and provide easy access to the shopping centre, he said.
North East Lincolnshire Council's head of development, Jason Longhurst, said: "This successful bid, alongside the significant benefits for public transport and enabling access to employment, further provides the opportunity to expand the retail offer in Grimsby town centre, as we know that Grosvenor, the owners of Freshney Place, are keen to extend.
"The bid was prepared in partnership with our regeneration partner Balfour Beatty and a number of local businesses and community groups.
"This funding will allow us to make significant improvements to the public and sustainable transport networks, which will help to encourage development, create jobs and improve levels of accessibility."
What do you think?
E-mail your thoughts to viewpoint@grimsbytelegraph.co.uk
Qatar: Deadly Blaze in Shopping Mall - Elites TV
On May 28 a fire broke out at Doha's Villaggio Mall, leaving nineteen dead, thirteen of whom were children. Another seventeen were injured.
The children were trapped in a nursery within the mall, and they and four teachers died of smoke inhalation. Two firefighters died as they attempted to rescue them.
Those who died came from various countries including France, New Zealand, the Philippines, South Africa and Spain.
What happened?
Qatar's Ministry of Interior reported:
@MOI_QatarEn: The Minister said that the Rescue Police reached the spot within a minute of information and Civil Defence team reached after two minutes.
@MOI_QatarEn: But lack of floor plans, thick smoke and heat and malfunctioning sprinkler systems hindered rescue efforts at the Villaggio.
@MOI_QatarEn: It was alerted lately only that children were trapped inside and finally Firefighters had to go in through the ceiling.
Smoke coming from Villaggio Mall. Image posted by @LivinginDoha.
Doha resident Kirsty Rice offered more details on her blog:
Today may well be remembered as one of Doha's darkest. For those who have announced to friends and family that Doha is a wonderfully safe place to raise our children, today will perhaps be remembered as the day that innocence was lost. As a community, we are, as my friend Erika said this evening “numb with grief”. […] Thirteen children were trapped inside the nursery, it is believed their exit, a staircase, had collapsed from the heat of a fire. Where exactly the fire began is yet to be confirmed. The nursery was in the interior of the mall, meaning you walked through a virtual rabbit warren of corridors to get there. From what I understand, when the firefighters arrived at those corridors they were considered impenetrable and too dangerous to enter, it was decided the only other way to get there, was through the ceiling. By the time the hole was cut, it was too late, they were gone. Thirteen beautiful children, four teachers and two firefighters. Smoke inhalation meant that their little bodies were carried lifeless from the building.
In this video journalism student Usama Alony (usamaah2290) interviewed witnesses and filmed rescue efforts (he notes that some viewers might find it upsetting):
What about safety requirements?
Witnesses reported that there were neither alarms nor sprinklers in operation at Villaggio Mall.
Nano expressed his surprise:
@fermoreno: It's unbelievable that Villagio has the best luxury shops one could ever imagine, but fire protection systems didn't work #Villagio #Qatar
Raed Al Emadi tweeted angrily:
@Ra_ed: I am a Qatari and selfish business that does not take into account the safety of consumers does not represent me! #Qatar #villagio
The following video by TheVanishforever features an interview with a restaurant employee, in which she says that in the four years she had worked in Villaggio she couldn't recall any fire drill or training:
Where were the local media?
Doha residents were furious that local media seemed to be ignoring the fire, and were not providing updates.
South African Bilal Randeree criticized the absence of coverage on local radio:
@halalcomedy: Stuck in traffic cos of the #Villagio fire and forced to listen to #QBSradio talk cheating husbands kissing mistresses! #occupyqbs
From Libya, Hamid asked about the Qatari network Al Jazeera:
@2011feb17: Oh dear, with the thousands of reporters Aljazeera have around the world they forgot to appoint one in Doha? #VillaggioFire news blackout!
Al Jazeera English online producer Ben Piven gave credit, like many others, to the blog Doha News for its coverage:
@benpiven: @dohanews only source with real info on #VillaggioFire. Huge lack of local media coverage after public safety failure in massive mall blaze.
Qatar newspaper The Peninsula acknowledged the role of citizen media played in reporting the fire in an article entitled “New media trumps the traditional”.
Mourning the dead as #OneCommunityDoha
There are plans for a public gathering at Aspire Park in Doha on May 29 to support the families who lost loved ones in the Villaggio fire. While those who died were all foreign residents of Qatar, Qataris have been quick to offer their support.
Twitter user Qataria78 tweeted:
@Qataria78: Good morning, a day has passed but ur always on our minds, Mothers we feel the pain ur going through
#villaggio ##VillaggioFire
Abdulla Ali Almannai asked:
@abdullaalmannai: If u know how to reach the families who lost loved ones please share//qatari people want to go to these families #حريق_فلاجيو #VillagioFire
And Fatima Al Kuwari tweeted:
@fkuwari: Every soul on this land is one of us, Qatari or non Qatari, we are all one society. RIP #VillagioFire victims
Written by Salah Almhamdi
Wholesale Power Tools Father’s Day Sale Targets What Dad Really Wants: Power Tools - YAHOO!
With Big Savings on popular Makita power tools and a third Free lithium-ion battery on select kits, plus 10% off on select renowned Jet metalworking and woodworking shop tools, Dad will be a better craftsman and DIY-er for less.
Ft. Myers, FLA (PRWEB) May 29, 2012
This June 17, Father’s Day, will honor fathers throughout the country and, as usual, the necktie will lead the parade of gifts showered on Dear Old Dad in recognition of the many gifts he has bestowed on the lives of his family.Dad doesn’t want another tie, though. He wants power tools.
In recognition of fathers and what they really want on the Big Day, Wholesale Power Tools – Construction Supply Superstore, a leading online retailer of power tools, generators, construction and metalworking equipment, bits, blades, fasteners and more, is holding a Father’s Day Sale through June at http://www.wholesalepowertools.com/ with significant savings and extras on corded and cordless power tools from leading manufacturer Makita, and on metal and wood shop tools from Jet and Powermatic.
Wholesale Power Tools is featuring additional savings on already low wholesale prices on a wide variety of Makita power tools, and is throwing in a Free third lithium-ion battery, a $100 value, with several of the line’s highly popular 2-piece cordless combination kits and a 3-speed Makita Impact Driver. There is also Free Shipping offered on a selection of the most desirable tools and kits in the Makita line.
In addition, Wholesale Power Tools has a 10% off sale through June 30th on professional-grade metal- and woodworking shop tools from the Jet brand, known the world over as the gold standard for true craftsmen. Plus, also through June 30th, select Powermatic shop tools are featured with 17% savings.
Just to prove the point on what Dad actually wants as a Father’s Day gift, Wholesale Power Tools offers the following statistics: According to the study Power & Hand Tools, conducted by the Cleveland-based industry data research firm The Freedonia Group, demand for tools is growing at a 3.3% annual rate and should reach $14.5 billion in the U.S. in 2012, with the growth in demand from consumers outpacing that of professionals. At the same time, a recent Gallup Poll showed that only 6% of American men wear a tie to work every day, and the nation’s #1 necktie maker, Phillips-Van Heusen Corp., says sales of ties has dropped to 50 million a year from a high of nearly 250 million annually some 40 years ago.
Besides, even men who wear ties to work join their more casual brethren in the Do-It-Yourself-er category at home, using power drills, sanders, saws, drivers, nailers, staplers, trimmers, vacuums, cordless tools and more to build stuff, make repairs, and basically be the envy of all the other fathers in the neighborhood.
The highlight of power tools in the Makita line are the cordless models featuring both lithium-ion batteries and exclusive Makita brushless motor technology. The lithium-ion batteries charge much faster than the traditional nickel-cadmium type, and they hold a charge about 50% longer, both factors that keep the tools on the job longer.
But it’s the brushless motor technology that is really blazing a trail in the power tool world. Called Makita BL™ Brushless Motor Technology, this innovation in power tools was created by Makita in 2003 for assembly work in the defense and aerospace industries. In 2009 Makita expanded its offering, delivering an 18V LXT Brushless Motor Impact Driver for contractors, and now the technology is available on a wide variety of power hand tools for the professional and DIY-er alike. Makita’s efficient BL™ Brushless motor is electronically controlled to optimize battery energy use for up to 50% longer run time per charge than similar non-brushless tools. Electronic controls efficiently use battery energy to match torque and RPM to the changing demands of the application for increased power and speed when needed. And since there are no carbon brushes, the BL™ Brushless motor runs cooler and more efficiently for longer life, always a great savings.
A featured item in the Makita Father’s Day sale at Wholesale Power Tools is the LXT239 18V LXT Lithium-Ion Brushless Cordless 2-Pc. Kit, which includes a ½” Hammer Driver-Drill and a Brushless Impact Driver, both featuring the brushless motor technology and lithium-ion batteries, plus a Free third 18V lithium-ion battery as part of the this special Makita sale. The kit is available now with Free Shipping. Get complete information at http://www.wholesalepowertools.com/makita/.
In the JET Tools line, where the Father’s Day sale at Wholesale Power Tools is an additional 10% off already low wholesale prices, look for such items as the Jet 710116K 14” Deluxe Pro Bandsaw Kit, which comes with a 5-year warranty and features a massive cast iron frame for increased power to cut even larger pieces of wood. This kit, like many items in the Jet line, comes with Free Shipping. Visit http://www.wholesalepowertools.com/jet/ for details.
Wholesale Power Tools – Construction Supply Superstore carries a complete line of power tools, generators, compressors, scaffolding, inspection cameras, fasteners, accessories and more from a wide variety of the leading brands in the tools business for immediate shipping. The online retailer targets the professional and DIY-er with a large inventory and pricing strategy that delivers the best value in the tool business. The website also features Live Chat where tool experts can answer any questions concerning tools for the job, the right blades, fasteners and accessories and much more.
Visit http://www.wholesalepowertools.com/ or call toll-free 866-462-3581 for complete details.
Chuck Lunsford
Wholesale Power Tools
866-462-3581
Email Information
Shopping for Appliance Parts Reinvented by TopApplianceParts.com - Yahoo Finance
WILMINGTON, Del., May 29, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- TopApplianceParts.com changes the way appliance parts are purchased online by creating a marketplace where multiple vendors offer their inventory for sale so customers get to choose the best price.
For decades, shopping for appliance parts meant buying parts from one store that typically has one supplier with limited inventory.
TopApplianceParts.com has created a network of vendors that supply original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and non-OEM appliance parts for all brands and types of appliances and electronics.
When consumers visit TopApplianceParts.com, they can search for appliance parts they need using part number, model number, part description, brand and type of appliance. Once the consumer identifies the appliance part they need, they will see that appliance part offered from multiple vendors.
Consumers can click on the More Info & Availability button to get the price and availability from that particular vendor. The advantage of this new way of shopping is that some vendors might not have the desired appliance part in stock, but another vendor does.
Using this method, consumers avoid back ordering the appliance part from a supplier that does not currently have this part in its warehouse. Consumers can get real time appliance part availability information from each vendor.
Another advantage is price comparison shopping since the same appliance part can be offered by more than one supplier at a different price. By comparing prices from different vendors, consumers can save money.
About TopApplianceParts.com
TopApplianceParts.com is an online store that sells appliance parts from multiple vendors. The company currently offers great savings and benefits to its customers. If consumers order an appliance part before 2 p.m. Eastern time Monday through Friday, the part will be shipped the same day. Consumers get 30 days for returns.
Customer Support
Eugene Bezmel
TopApplianceParts.com
(888)-669-8860
support@topapplianceparts.com
This press release was issued through eReleases® Press Release Distribution. For more information, visit http://www.ereleases.com.
Great, let's label another bunch of feeble minded, pathetic people as ill or addicted so they can scrounge off the taxpaer and burden the NHS too. Maybe we should also put them all on disability living allowance, the extra money should help with the shopping bill and a motability car will make it easier to get down to the Mall. Popping a pill to solve every ill is just another symptom of the want it all now, consumer driven Society that we live in. I'd suggest the increase in "addicts" can be attributed to the cheap and free availability of credit and an over generous benefits system. When those income streams both dry up, the addicts will have no option but to go cold turkey. In the meantime, I have a much cheaper solution, take personal responsibility for yourself!! Cut up your credit cards and get yourself some counselling.
- Mrs L, Huddersfield, 29/5/2012 13:27
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