AS Bournemouth was recently ranked fourth in the UK's bankruptcy league, people like Sarah (not her real name) know more about the flip side of the coin than most.

She's conquering unhealthy relationships with food, drink and drugs one day at a time, but the one that's proving toughest to lick is her compulsion to spend, spend, spend.

"There are many reasons why I am like I am, but not one excuse," she says.

"It's nobody's responsibility but my own. It was always my choice. Just as it's my choice now to do something about it."

The 35-year-old sales executive has been going to Debtors Anonymous for the past two years. It's a 12-step fellowship in the manner of Alcoholics Anonymous offering mutual care and support in a non-judgemental atmosphere.

Sarah was addicted to the buzz she felt when she saw something she wanted and decided to have it. It made her feel better about herself - although often, by the time she got home, the moment had gone and she didn't even unpack the carrier bags.

She traces her problems back to childhood.

"I was fat as a child, and desperate for people to like me," she says.

"I used to buy everyone cream eggs at school so I wouldn't get bullied for being fat, so I'd have some friends. It worked. I saw buying things as a means to deflect unwanted attention, and I ended up stealing money so that I could buy more.

"My parents would row about money - my father's an alcoholic and my mother would always say that he couldn't afford to be, especially when his credit card bill came in."

In her teens and 20s, she also had alcohol dependency and eating disorders. She lived in a heady series of peaks and troughs, forging harmful relationships to ensure a ready source of cash. Some of her spending was funded by fraud and she ended up in prison where she learned new ways of obtaining money illegally.

"Sometimes, when I first woke up, I'd feel bad, but then I'd get up and go shopping and be OK again.

"There's a real pressure on us to emulate what we see in glossy magazines. There's always something new we're told we must have - and usually there's a payment plan, credit card or loan to help us get it."

Sarah moved to Bournemouth eight years ago, having hit rock bottom. In the grip of addiction, living hand-to-mouth, she sought help in a locally-based rehab programme, but was still spending. "I could deal with drink and drugs, as I could avoid them. But, like food, I have to deal with money every day. Bournemouth is an incredibly material town, you can see why there are so many bankruptcies."

The number of bankruptcies in Britain is now at its highest since 1960 and national figures from the charity Credit Action suggest one person falls victim to insolvency every minute of every working day. The high street banks have announced record profits totalling £40 billion in the past two weeks, but a third of that (£13 billion) has been written off as bad debt.

Concern over the level of personal debt prompted the Citizens Advice service to criticise the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Bill which aims to simplify the laws governing bailiffs. The Citizens Advice charity claims new powers will allow bailiffs to force entry to the homes of people with consumer debt such as credit cards.

"Bankruptcy is no good for me - all that would do is wipe off the debt in a few years, not deal with my urge to spend," says Sarah. "In a way I need to feel the pain.

"DA works for me because you are supported by people going through the same kind of problems. I owed about £25,000 and was making all the minimum payments by robbing Peter to pay Paul.

"The first thing was to sort out a spending plan and write down everything that I spend money on. Then, one by one, tackle creditors and try to arrange repayments.

"The debt recovery departments can be vicious. With DA there's someone for me to call before I speak to creditors and then I can call friends afterwards as well. It's a place of safety for me."

Sarah feels she has her life back on track. She has full-time and part-time jobs and the emotional support of a loving partner at her side. She has arrangements with her creditors and is no longer adding to her debt. She doesn't use credit cards.

"I've got money to a point that it isn't the most important thing in my life. I know the money I'm spending is real - I never grasped the need to pay credit card bills properly. This way I know how much I can afford to spend on clothes each month, and when I spend it, it's gone. There have been relapses, and I still recognise the feelings inside, but I feel much better - at least for today."