Shopping addiction?

[Mutley]

I definitely buy drug addiction, sex addiction, internet addiction, and even video game addiction. But shopping addiction? I am not sure I buy it as a legitimate addiction requiring psychological and/or medicinal help to cure. What do you all think?






I wanted to post this as a poll, but I can't justify spending money to be a donor right now. No, not even $5. :P

[la_chupa]

1. yea I buy it

get it, "I buy it"

I am hilarious.

Here is the thing, I wouldn't necessarily believe this either but I swear my MIL has this issue. Her husband died a few years ago and I think she's filling the loneliness by falling for everything that comes along on QVC. Every time we go over there I'm shocked again at the piles of junk in QVC boxes. Most of it isn't even opened.

I can't really describe it, but it's a strange cross between loneliness, depression, and hoarding.

[Orsino]

2. It seems an entirely reasonable description of a phenomenon...

...perhaps not too far removed from gambling addiction, or from hoarding.

Someone gets a rush from acquiring new stuff. It may be hard to draw a line between neurosis and normal behavior, but the addiction strikes me as possible, and therefore statistically inevitable.

[Flaxbee]

3. yup. I've seen many QVC addicts ... I think one of the reason

QVC does so well is they 'chat' to the viewer, creating an illusion of friendship, girls out having fun, etc. Many older women really fall into the trap, and some do get addicted to the rush of something new arriving every day.

[LynzM]

7. My mom was like that after my parents divorced.

Beanie babies, purses, shoes, clothes, stuff she didn't need, things that were left around, unopened, still in the shopping bag. :(

[Wapsie B]

4. I remember talking to a guy whose wife was addicted to QVC & HSN.

His house was piled high with boxes and boxes of things she'd buy everyday. Needless to say I don't know if that marriage survived.
Some have that emptiness inside that can only be filled by talking to that operator on the phone, much like someone else might get with their bookie or random sexual encounter.

[Mutley]

5. You could be right.

I suppose I just look at it from my own perspective. I've been addicted to things, and not just in the "Oh man, this game is really addictive!" sort of way. I like to shop. It's one of the few "girly" traits I have. There are a lot of things out there I have wanted to buy for a long time, but since I know I can't afford it, I don't buy it. I have been lonely, empty, and depressed at different times in my life, but still never felt the need to fill the void with shopping. Though I did fill the void with other things, so I suppose I can understand.

[Wapsie B]

6. There are those who talk about "retail therapy."

Not necessarily buying things but just being out and about among people and window-shopping rather than sitting at home. I like to shop too. And at times in my life it did fill that void of loneliness. My problem is though that at times I find myself getting more things than I need on any given trip, things that I think I may need later. So I can see where someone who has no self-awareness in that regard to even see a problem could blow an entire paycheck on god knows what.

[CBHagman]

8. Oh, it definitely exists.

Any behavior can turn compulsive -- eating, drinking, exercise, etc. -- and the pursuit of material goods is no exception. I used to work in retail and noticed as much.

[la_chupa]

9. I kind of *get it*

Kind of

I was out of work once and would get so stressed out over money that I'd snap and go shopping. I think when it becomes a problem as in an addiction is just a question of scale and control isn't it?

Actually I think what I was doing is more along the lines of self destructive behavior than addiction.

or just normal blowing off steam since after I started working again I didn't have the same issue

(don't talk to my husband - I NEED all those books and yes I've read everything else in the house)

[Mojambo]

10. I have a good friend who has struggled with it.

For her it went back to her father abandoning the family when she was very young.

He basically skipped town with all of her stuff.

She spent the next 20 years trying to replace it without ever really noticing it. $40,000 in debt before she got some actual therapy and figured out what was going on.

[nolabear]

11. It's definitely real. People get the same endorphin rush from buying that a gambler gets.

Substance abuse is somewhat different because there's an effect from the drug itself as well as the relief that's felt from knowing that the anxiety that is promoting the drug use is about to be relieved, but that relief, the endorphin rush along with the conviction that this new thing will somehow solve a problem (make me look okay, make me a better person, satisfy someone whose love is importnt to me, etc.), even in the face of lots and lots of evidence to the contrary, is a unique problem in and of itself. It can be tough to treat but it's treatable.