New Thoughts

We are interested to hear from anyone who went to one of the meetings recently. Please let us know your thoughts.

Buy Little Buy Less Buy Nothing At All

see links/dates for more information

Links/Dates

www.clairedowie.co.uk

Transcribed testimony (2) Tim

I live with my mum. Always have done. I’m thirty three and see no reason to change. I’ve never worked, always odd-jobbed, for my mum, her friends, the neighbours, myself. I’ve got an allotment, a garden full of veg. Woodwork, painting, cooking, cleaning, clearance, lifting, shifting – you name it, I can do it. People pay me in old clothes, old appliances, odd necessities. There’s little I need and even less I want. When I left school I went to the job centre, applied for social security, told them everything. They said I’d have to turn myself into a business, become a self-employed odd-jobber and keep books. I didn’t go again. A neighbour had a hip operation, asked me to shop for her. I couldn’t go in couldn’t enter the supermarket. I tried – turned queasy, felt guilty, went home and looked up Internet shopping.

I think I may be a casualty.

Transcribed testimony (1) Sharon

I was once a joyous shopper. 
I loved clothes, make up, nail extensions – the works. 
I still do. 
But now I’m lurching between depression and near hysteria. 
I can’t go into shops. 
My friends have tried physically forcing me in. 
I’ve tried alcohol, tranquillisers, hypnotherapy –
but still can’t get through the door. 
I want a cure and I want it quick – my image is so last year
and my nails are a mess!
It was instant: I was in Primark and a voice in my head said,
‘Put down the blouse and back away from the clothes rail –
get out of the shop.  Now!’

A new disease is sweeping the nation: inconspicuous nonconsumption.

I have recently discovered a tragic inability to shop.

This forum is an opportunity for sufferers to share their experiences of shopaphobia