SHOPPING ADDICTION: SYMPTOMS, CAUSES AND TREATMENTS - ARTE - 2024

The shopping addiction is a compulsion to spend money, regardless of need or financial means. The shopaholic is someone who is compulsive shopping and may feel like they have no control over their behavior.

While many people enjoy shopping as a treatment or recreational activity, compulsive shopping is a mental health disorder and can cause serious consequences.

Shopaholic addiction has received various names so far, such as "compulsive shopping", "shopping-mania" or "shopaholic". The society in which we live is consumerist. For this reason, it is a topic of growing interest, not only due to its economic impact on the person who suffers it, but also because of the disorders that are hidden behind this addiction.

Data / statistics

Some studies on this addiction show that a third of EU citizens are addicted to consumption and have serious self-control problems when shopping.

In addition, 3% have turned this addiction into a pathology. These figures are aggravated among the young population, since 46% are addicts and 8% have levels that border on sickness.

This addiction is much more common among women between the ages of 20 - 40 years. These are usually independent workers and women who show dissatisfaction in relation to their love life.

At least once a week, it is common for them to tour different stores and malls during their free time, which means that their closets are cluttered with new or once-worn clothes.

However, it is a disorder that is not yet included in psychopathology manuals, perhaps because –as various social psychologists claim-, people are not simply consumerists, but excessive consumerists.

To better understand this disease, we will present the causes, main symptoms and the components of the treatment that is usually carried out in these cases:

Main causes of shopping addiction

The causes for which people can develop addiction to shopping are very varied, including both internal psychological states - boredom or discontent - and external reasons - advertising and marketing.

Rivalry and comparison with the people around us

Our needs depend on what the people around us have. In this way, if our friends buy excessively or travel frequently, we will have the feeling that we need to behave in the same way.

Advertising media messages

It is no secret that we are all subject to the power of marketing and advertising, and they exercise great power over our behavior - including consumer behavior.

Ease of payment

At present, it is enough to bring a credit card and pay for the product that we want to take home. At other times, it is very easy to get a loan to finance our purchases. All this makes it easier for us to buy impulsively and without thinking too much.

Lack of expense control

A person who does not balance their income and expenses in a methodical way is more likely to waste money on unnecessary products.

Boredom

The monotony or lack of fun in our daily lives can become a precipitating factor for shopping addiction.

Negative emotions

Experiencing negative emotions, such as sadness or anxiety, can lead people addicted to shopping to have an episode of excessive shopping, since, as we will see throughout this article, a momentary state of well-being is produced at the moment in which new items are being acquired.

The symptoms manifested by those addicted to shopping are numerous and varied, being, in some cases, similar to the symptoms presented in other addictions.

Excitement when buying or before buying

Perhaps the most prominent symptom is the excessive tension or excitement experienced just before making the purchase. As a result of the action of buying, the person feels satisfaction, their anxiety levels are reduced and they even feel excessive euphoria.

However, this excitement usually disappears quickly - even before arriving home with the new acquisitions - so the pleasure experienced is very short-lived.

Feelings of guilt

This constant desire to buy more and more objects, clothes or utensils persists even when it puts their work or family finances at risk. After oversized purchases, which typically include useless or repetitive items, people experience regret, guilt, depression, and anxiety.

Low self-esteem or distress

Other psychological consequences caused by compulsive shopping are anxiety, shame or low self-esteem. All these symptoms, which produce excessive stress, can cause illnesses such as ulcers, hypertension, deep depressions and frequent headaches.

Hide the addiction

It is also common for family fights to occur due to the waste that the person addicted to shopping has carried out - for this reason, they usually hide it from family and partner.

However, the only way a person with a shopping addiction knows to stop feeling these negative feelings is to buy again - just as an alcoholic will more likely turn to alcohol when experiencing anxiety and sadness.

Psychological tolerance

Another characteristic symptom of this disease is the development of tolerance. As is the case with alcohol consumption in alcoholics, shopping addicts progressively increase their expenses to experience the same effect.

Disease awareness

With regard to disease awareness, we find that these people are aware of the problem they present, although they can sometimes fool themselves.

When they think about it, they know their closets are full. However, once at the store, they tell themselves that they are acquiring very useful items and clothing that they really need.

Differences from other addictions

The traits that are present in shopping addicts can be found in other impulse control disorders, such as kleptomania.

In fact, the only difference found with kleptomania is that shopaholics pay for their purchases, resulting in debt they cannot cope with - while kleptomania tend to have greater problems with shopping. justice, due to their criminal behaviors.

However, in very advanced stages of shopping addiction, when the person cannot find any means to pay for the products they wish to purchase, they can resort to theft - from people around them or in the establishments themselves.

Treatment

It is advisable that this type of therapy is carried out by the hand of a professional specialized in addictions, who knows how to apply the most appropriate treatment to each person, depending on the phase in which the disease is and their personal characteristics.

There are different scales and tests that have been created specifically to diagnose this addiction, such as:

• Valence, d´Astous and Fortier compulsive buying scale.
• Edwards Compulsive Shopping Scale.
• Shopping addiction test (Echeburúa, de Corral y Amor).

With regard to the fundamental aspects to treat in this disorder, we can highlight the following:

Stimulus control

These include the restrictions that the person addicted to shopping must make, to reduce the probability of relapsing into their addictive habit. Within this section, there are the following modifications that must be carried out:

• Reduce your daily budget. The person must leave home with a reduced daily budget and in cash, which will be adapted to the anticipated expenses (for food, means of transport, etc.).
• Avoid shopping areas and shopping centers. The shopaholic must modify his route to work or the study center in order to avoid any stimulus that precipitates a new episode of compulsive buying - such as stores, shopping centers, etc.-.
• Notify stores and small businesses about your addiction. Sometimes, people leave money "on loan" in small businesses, when they meet the owner or clerk of the store. To prevent the addicted person from resorting to this option to satisfy their irrepressible desires, they must notify in advance so that they do not sell anything - just as gambling addicts can ask the casinos not to allow entry to them-.

Cope with your financial problems

For the therapy to have the desired effect and the person to stop experiencing negative feelings -which can lead again to unbridled purchases-, it is important that they face their debts, reducing the cost of money to the maximum and returning objects to the stores - if the return ticket is still valid and in case the objects have not been used.

It is necessary to make a balance of all the debts that the person owns, including the money that they have loaned or extracted from others.

This is a fundamental but very delicate aspect of the treatment. The person must commit to himself and to others in order to break the vicious circle in which he has been involved.

Due to the difficulty involved, the first days or weeks may be established that the person is accompanied by a friend or family member when they leave home in their free time - especially if there are signs of significant anxiety or depression.

Once the debts are paid, sometimes they choose to break the credit cards, since, as we mentioned at the beginning of the article, they can be used easily and immediately, so the person can lose control of their accounts again and relapse into addiction.

During the following months, cash and small amounts will be used at all times, so that if the person has an urgent need to acquire an object, they cannot do so.

Gradual live exposure

Once the treatment progresses, it will be necessary for the person to learn to buy in a controlled and adaptive way, since it is a behavior that is not harmful when you have control over it.

In addition, the shopaholic has to expose himself to the anxiety caused by frequenting stores and not buying any new garment.

To carry out this exposure, the person must be accompanied -in the first occasions- to high-risk places, such as shopping centers.

One way to proceed is to establish a gradual scale of exposure, with a different task being performed each day. An example of an exposure scale could be the following:

• Pass in front of a shopping center.
• Watch a showcase for 15 minutes.
• Go into a store and see clothes for 10 minutes.
• Entering a store and trying on 2 pieces of clothing - without buying anything.

In this way, the person acquires greater self-control over his compulsive behavior.

Cognitive treatment

Another important aspect that must be present in therapy is the change of irrational beliefs of the person who suffers from shopping addiction, since they usually present overvalued ideas regarding the possession of material objects. For this you can intervene with cognitive behavioral therapy.

To begin with, it is important that the person is aware that different problems are hidden behind their addiction that they are hiding or masking. Sometimes it is a sentimental void, dissatisfaction with your partner or with your job.

Therefore, it is necessary to detect the affected areas of your life so that you can solve them and increase your emotional well-being in a different way - instead of seeking happiness through shopping.

Another fundamental aspect to improve in these cases is self-esteem, which is generally very affected, since the person has been learning to value himself and others based on material possessions, instead of appreciating the skills and qualities that are owned.

To increase personal self-esteem, it may be suggested that you start some new activity to do in your free time - attend dance classes, languages, sports, etc.-.

In this way, in addition to enhancing their self-esteem, the person is prevented from being bored for long periods of time - which, remember, is a precipitating factor in the compulsive shopping episode.

Of course, other disorders secondary to this addiction should also be treated, such as the aforementioned symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress.

The fundamental objective of the therapy will be to restructure the life of the person so that they know how to manage their own internal states in an adaptive way, leaving aside the maladaptive habits used so far.

References

1. Cía, AH (2014). Non-substance addictions (DSM-5, APA, 2013): a first step towards the inclusion of Behavioral Addictions in the current categorical classifications. Journal of Neuro-Psychiatry, 76 (4), 210.
2. del Río, FP (2011). Non-substance addictions in the last 40 years. Norte de Salud Mental, 9 (40).
3. Mínguez, FM, Segal, HD, & Quintero, J. (2015). Treatment protocol for addictions without psychoactive substance. Medicine-Accredited Continuing Medical Education Program, 11 (86), 5157-5160.
4. PELLICER, MCL (2006). SHOPPING ADDICTION. DITORIAL, 81.