Health: Please help me, I'm human

Do you worry all the way to work about whether or not you left the iron on? Do you lock the front door, and then return to check that it's locked five minutes later? Do you avoid the cracks in the pavement? Most of us have irrational thoughts or behaviour from time to time. But if your anxieties are turning you into a character out of Woody Allen - fear not - there is a new support group which can help.

Humans Anonymous (HA) in Brighton has been set up to help people in the grip of compulsive and addictive patterns of thought or behaviour. Demand is so high in Brighton that a second group has just been set up. Bristol also has its own HA. A spin-off of the 12- step group Alcoholics Anonymous participants introduce themselves at HA meetings as "My name is John...I'm a human" - which is comforting on days when you feel more like an alien.

Ten per cent of the population is now thought to have an addictive and

compulsive personality - and among these a dependency on alcohol, food, sex, gambling, drugs or cigarettes is usually the common denominator. But what is supposed to underlie these addictive and obsessive thoughts and behaviours is an inability to cope with life's realities.

According to Dr Robert Lefever, GP and director of Promis Recovery Centre in Kent, which treats obsessive-compulsives as well as addicts: "Whether you drink alcoholically, snort cocaine or go back to the house three times because you think you have left the iron on - it is all part of the same thing. You don't need substances to have obsessional and addictive behaviour and thought processes. What is behind all these tendencies is usually depression which people try to cover up in some way. He adds: "I'm not in favour of a confessional society but if you have an addictive nature, you do need somewhere to go to talk about your obsessions."

At HA meetings, participants are encouraged to share their feelings and identify with others with similar experiences. The first step to recovery for sufferers is to admit that they are "powerless over their addictive and compulsive patterns of thought and behaviour." For many people, compulsive traits may not be life threatening but they still need help to solve their problems on a day-to-day basis.

"With addictive disease the problem is genetic and affects a cross-section of the community," claims Dr Lefever. "You cannot solve emotional problems overnight - no matter how privileged, rich and famous you might be. We're all obsessed with glamour, yet being featured in Hello! and OK! magazines doesn't bring happiness - those people are just as likely to need help."

Amanda, 32, a recovering HA member, party girl and victim of the Tara Palmer-Tomkinson "having it all" syndrome, would vouch for this. "When you put down the alcohol and drugs, all the problems that drove you to use them come to the surface.

"As part of the social scene you have to project a certain image. The only way you can do this is by suppressing what you really feel. I've been at Cartier International polo matches and felt so much pressure to be glamorous, sitting next to well-groomed women dripping in gold, that I've needed a drug to cope with my feelings of inadequacy and low self- esteem.

"At school we are not taught to express our emotions yet most people have anxieties about themselves. I go to HA because I can talk about any of my addictions or obsessive thoughts - it is also very easy to switch addictions. I can find myself drinking six cappuccinos or obsessively checking to see if my rings are still on my fingers or calling my answer machine 10 times a day if I'm expecting a man to call. At HA meetings there are other people who think or act in the same way and there is a certain amount of camaraderie. You don't feel so loony."

For some, attending a HA meeting is an alternative to counselling. Peter, a 34-year-old office administrator, says: "There are no experts, no preaching. People share their experience rather than a theory a counsellor might use. Anxiety feeds on anxiety - if you can talk about your worst fears they tend to evaporate. If you have an obsession about something you are usually ashamed about it. But if you share it amongst people who are not going to judge you it makes you feel part of the human race.

"I used to be obsessed with being perfect. At work if they shut the door in an office I would think, `they're talking about me - they've found out I've fiddled my expenses - they're going to fire me', even though I know I do a good job and I don't fiddle my expenses. I've also stopped mentally beating myself up all the time, and I realise it's OK to make mistakes and that as a human being I have needs."

For a copy of the book to go with the HA recovery programme, `Compulsions and Addictions: Steps To Recovery' pounds 4.30 inc p&p, and for details about meetings or how to set one up, contact HA meetings, PO Box 1159, Brighton BN1 4PS or fax: 01273 604203. The Promis Recovery Centre helpline: 0800 374 318. Addict questionnaire, right, adapted from Dr Robert Lefever's book: `How To Identify Addictive Behaviour' pounds 6.95, Promis Books Ltd

Are You

an Addict?

1. Do you feel an overwhelming sense of tension and excitement when you are acting compulsively?

2. Would it be a lot more painful for you to give up an obsession than to give up a close friendship?

3. Are you afraid that life will become excessively dull and boring if you do not have anything to obsess about?

4. Do you feel that you are really "alive" when you are using a substance (which could be anything from coffee to crack)?

5. Have you repeatedly cancelled your social arrangements or lost jobs because you have been pursuing your addiction?

6. Has anyone ever expressed concern over your obsessive behaviour?

Dr Robert Lefever says that if you answered "yes" to one or more of these questions, you may have a compulsive or addictive disorder