Shopping addiction is a serious and destructive behavioural disorder, which causes people to struggle to manage the compulsive urge to shop for items. It involves someone becoming preoccupied with buying goods and shopping, whether on the high-street or online.
Otherwise known as ‘oniomania’, problem shopping is believed to affect around 5% of the population, or around 3.35 million people in the UK. It's primarily observed in women in their late teens or early twenties. The emotional rollercoaster you experience if you have shopping addiction can leave you spending much of your waking moments thinking about shopping, getting anxious before a purchase, feeling a brief sense of euphoria immediately after a purchase, before feeling guilty or ashamed afterwards.
It can sometimes be difficult to determine the difference between enjoying a shopping spree and having a chronic shopping addiction. While there are similarities between the two, some key factors that set them apart include:
Shopping spree - during a shopping spree, you may be more likely to spend larger sums of money than usual, or buy more items than you would during a typical shopping trip, although this will only extend to the amount of money you can afford to spend.
Shopping sprees also tend to only happen occasionally, and will often take place around an annual holiday or special event, including during Christmas season or when you're buying presents for a family member’s birthday.
Shopping addiction - with shopping addiction, shopping takes place at any time and often becomes part of a routine as opposed to a one-off behaviour. Signs of a shopping addiction include spending more money than you can afford on desired items, simply because you feel an urge to have them.
A shopping addiction may involve several shopping trips within a short period of time, each characterised by excessive and compulsive shopping habits, which are often paid for with a range of credit or store credit cards.
Priory can help you to identify shopping addiction and compulsive spending symptoms. After experiencing the short-lived feelings of pleasure and euphoria after purchasing an item, long-term symptoms can include financial problems as a result of spending beyond your means, feelings of guilt associated with purchases, and strain on relationships with loved ones.
While it can be easier for a friend or family member to spot the signs of shopping addiction before you do, other signs and symptoms of shopping addiction can include:
As with other addictive behaviours, the causes of compulsive shopping can be treated successfully, and follow a similar treatment programme at Priory as other addictions.
While there's no definitive cause of shopping addiction, it's believed that a combination of biological and environmental factors contribute to the likelihood of someone developing an addiction of any kind.
It's thought that between 10% and 15% of people are predisposed to becoming addicted to the brain’s release of feel-good chemicals, including dopamine and endorphins. These can be triggered after purchasing an item in a store or online.
The factors that can influence a person's chances of developing an addiction may include:
From a biological perspective, several studies have explored how the brains of sex addicts and gambling addicts react to stimuli that are associated with those behavioural compulsions.
The results of these studies suggest that certain behaviours trigger the brains of some people in a similar manner to how alcohol and other drugs prompt changes in the brains of drug addicts.
Extending these findings to shopping addiction, this means shopping may trigger a chemical reaction in your brain, similar to what alcoholics or drug addicts experience when they misuse the substance they've become addicted to.
From an environmental perspective, experts also believe that compulsive shopping may be a means of dealing with stress or attempting to numb yourself to psychological pain related to past trauma. Again, this is similar to the experience that leads many people to misuse substances and develop an addiction. However, instead of alcohol, cocaine or another drug, shopping addicts turn to compulsive spending as a means of relief.
The impact of shopping addiction on a person’s quality of life shouldn't be underestimated. The availability of access to the internet, and the greater trust in internet security for money transfer means that many more people who are in search of a bargain can end up in debt.
Online stores such as eBay and Amazon are a huge temptation due to their vast product ranges, encouraging us to purchase things we don't need, which can lead to a spending addiction.
Treatment for shopping addiction can look different depending on your individual needs, the intensity of your condition, and any pre-existing dual-diagnosis like co-occuring mental health issues.
What treatment might look like for you, it will likely include therapy, medication, or a combination of the two.
Depending on your treatment plan, there are a wide range of therapeutic and medication based treatment options that can help relieve you of your compulsion to shop.
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) - the action-oriented approach of CBT involves working with your therapist to better understand how shopping addiction has impacted your life, and how your emotions, thoughts and behaviours are contributing towards the urge to shop excessively. This can also be conducted in a group setting, where other people going through the same issues as you provide a reassuring support network as you learn how to control compulsive urges.
Taking part in CBT sessions will enable you to learn more positive coping techniques and alternative methods for receiving the same pleasurable effects that shopping gives you, without being detrimental to your everyday life.
Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) - DBT aims to help you manage compulsive urges to shop by incorporating a mixture of group-based skills training and individual therapy. It involves mindfulness and emotional regulation as methods you can use to resist the temptation to shop.
Medication - as shopping addiction can involve co-occurring mental health conditions, such as anxiety or depression, you might need medication to relieve the symptoms of these conditions first and foremost, which can have a beneficial effect on your compulsive shopping behaviours.
If another mental health condition is causing you to shop excessively as a coping mechanism, then you may be prescribed antidepressants or anti-anxiety medication.
Treatment settings - treatment for shopping addiction can take place in a number of different formats. Inpatient or residential-based treatments might be appropriate for those in need of the most intense treatment, done in a purpose-built environment designed for recovery.
For others, it may be more appropriate to receive treatment on a day-care, outpatient, or online basis. These options allow you to maintain other responsibilities in your life, such as work and family life, while working towards recovery.
