Counting the true cost of shopping addiction
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by a compulsion to ‘shop and spend’ – either for themselves, or by excessive gifting to others.
“The time and emotional stress involved in online searching, social media scrolling, visiting shops, juggling credit card bills, hiding purchases from family and returning goods can cause severe disruption to everyday life.
“This serious form of addiction can lead to debt, dysfunctional family life, neglected or over-indulged children.” Why do people become addicted to shopping? Shopping has a tangible effect on the brain. Research shows that during the buying experience, the chemical ‘dopamine’ surges as you anticipate a new purchase.
For some, the pleasurable feeling rapidly declines, sometimes as soon as they’ve clicked to make an online purchase. This leads shopping addicts to repeat the process to experience the same ‘high’.
The increase of dopamine in the brain can trigger powerful feelings of reward and motivation, and while most of us can keep this balanced by self-control and practical financial considerations, when the process gets out of balance and people become addicted to the pleasure of spending, it can turn into a full-blown addiction.
Pamela added: “Any addiction is a way of coping with emotions – so shopping for some is a way to avoid confronting negative or uncomfortable feelings such as sadness, boredom, stress and anxiety. If you’re overloaded with work, for example, you feel you deserve a treat.
“If you become reliant on that ‘hit’, it can develop into a negative habit, whereby your response to stress is hardwired to buy something. In the online age, with many people having smartphone access, it can be an irresistible distraction from the working day and from other family or relationship problems.” Do you buy an excessive amount of things you really don’t need – and then don’t use? Are you hoarding goods at home, or going to extreme lengths to conceal items and your credit card bill? Even if you don’t class yourself as a ‘shopaholic’, it’s healthy for us all to review our shopping behaviour by checking how much time we spend scrolling through shopping or bidding sites. She added: “It could be a problem if you feel it’s a disproportionate amount of time or if it is so consuming that it constantly distracts you from other priorities.” Many compulsive shoppers also buy in quantity, admitting to buying a product “because it was a bargain”. Pamela said: “If you remove shopping apps only to download them again, you may have a problem t you need to seek help for. Consistently overspending, taking out multiple store cards, juggling a raft of credit cards, running up significant debts in order to ‘fund’ your shopping are all a real concern.” The most important step is recognising and accepting you have a problem, before seeking help. Treatment for shopping addiction usually involves a mix of psychology, therapy and sometimes medication, and patients can identify any deeper psychological problems that may be influencing their behaviour. For instance, compulsive buying can be linked to psychiatric conditions like OCD, depression and bipolar disorder.
Pamela said: “There is withdrawal with shopping addiction, which often surprises people. Just like a dependence to a substance, there can be a period of physical shakes and emotions may be erratic when not shopping or trying to cut down.”
Self-esteem issues and uncertainties may come to the fore too. She added: “Fears and paranoia that are usually masked by addictive behaviour can emerge and with withdrawals come cravings and the mistaken belief that only the shopping will relieve the discomfort.”
Pamela, who has treated many shopping addicts, said recovery requires patients to become familiar with triggers and gradually develop a resilience to emotions that at first seem incredibly raw.
She said: “Instead of hiding true emotions behind shopping, there’s a gradual process of building a tolerance of, and responding emotionally to, life experiences, which ultimately brings freedom. Learning positive coping techniques and alternative methods for receiving the same pleasurable effects shopping gives, is an important