Posted by theswarmite

Urban Addictions

 
Welcome to BINGE-BRITAIN . . . with as many urban addictions as the varied graffiti on this wall in London’s Waterloo Southbank. The selection is immense. 
 
Some people ask " what’s an urban addiction" ? Now we know that country folk living in the sticks and people living in market towns are not exempt from excess but frankly the majority of citizens work in urban cities now, even if they lead sub-urban lives, and it is here after work where most messy distractions occur. Addictions are based in lifestyles and urban lifestyles differ from the rest. Single people largin’ it with disposable incomes are more likely to go astray but those in relationships or parents with children can harbour all manner of compulsive behaviors that do as much long term damage. 
 
You don’t need to drink or drug to excess to experience obsessive, destructive addictive behaviors – you know the kind they are. Urban traffic is fast with daily information overload, no wonder we reach out for release. Switching to different addictions is easy but management is not and the result is secretive chaos living. Help is at hand.
 
Talking to someone who has been there about the things you can’t control is a beginning in understanding where you can apply HARM REDUCTION even if you have never had counseling, therapy or coaching before. The Swarmite has over 25 years experience in helping people to fix themselves.
 
The most comprehensive list of UK links concerning Addictions can be found here : http://addictiontoday.typepad.com
 /addictiontoday/useful-links.html
 
 LGBT – GETTING INSIDE CLUBLAND – ADDICTION TODAY MAGAZINE
 
“Clubland’s Therapist” – aka The Swarmite – recently set up Homovision Rehab http://www.homovision.tv/category/rehab-with-the-swarmite/ to reach out to the thousands of gay men on “Comedown Tuesday”. He thinks addiction is such a problem because “there’s no real understanding on the gay scene as to what is healthy and what is unhealthy; to look at that would be questioning a sense of morality, and churches and religions do that to us already”.

Unlike straight people, most gayers don’t start families nor have to grow out of partying. In partnership they often have two disposable incomes like married heterosexuals, no kids but lead a different lifestyle of hedonism, and in gay clubs and bars, if everyone else seems to be doing it too, it’s very easy to overlook an issue developing.

check out the rest of this article by Sarah Graham in ADDICTION TODAY  : http://www.addictiontoday.org/addictiontoday/2009/08/death-by-diversity.html