Deciding whether you are a shopaholic depends on your definition of the word. The term used to mean someone who liked to shop, maybe a little too much. Now, being called one may mean that you are a compulsive shopper who spends beyond your limits, buys things you have no use for, and uses shopping as a way to feel better temporarily.
Some believe that the compulsive shopper is actually suffering from an addiction. Addiction is defined as having a compulsion to a commit a behavior, being unable to stop a behavior, and continuing the behavior despite harmful consequences. Research now shows that addictive behavior often provides a momentary lift in mood. A flood of “good feeling” producing hormones rewards a shopaholic when he or she buys something. Unfortunately, the lift is not permanent, and the person must go out and shop more in order to find the next boost in hormones.
The shopaholic frequently begins to search for more and more “highs,” however, which translates to greater expense. Once the shopper begins to damage his or her own life by spending, or the compulsive shopping interferes with relationships, then true addiction exists, particularly if the person can’t stop.
This person frequently spends beyond his or her means, so he or she may sacrifice money for food, rent, utilities, or simply be unable to pay rising credit card balances. Once a shopaholic spends beyond his or her limits, the disease, like an addiction to drugs, can worsen. The person may indulge in compulsive theft, or may steal money from others in order to continue shopping. What began as joy at finding a few good bargains can end in financial ruin, and even criminal prosecution.
There is help to end such compulsions, which are just as likely to occur in men and women. Needing shopping, just like needing any other activity or drug to regulate mood, suggests that the person may have a chemical imbalance. Often restoring chemical balance, through medications like anti-depressants, can help curb some of the urge to shop, but this is only one half of the equation. As a person becomes a shopaholic, he or she not only physically depends on the shopping for chemical balance, but also emotionally depends on the experience.
The same holds true for people addicted to substances like nicotine. Fighting the physical addiction is not the same as fighting the habitual behavior of smoking. In addition to possibly needing chemicals to help alter brain chemistry, a shopping addict needs to learn how to stop habitual shopping. This can be especially difficult since most people need to shop from time to time, and it's nearly impossible to go “cold turkey” and stop completely. People who suffer from this condition will probably still need to occasionally shop for things like groceries, and this can lead to regression in fighting the addiction.
What does appear to help is support groups or individual counseling for controlling addictive behavior. Many organizations exist to help compulsive shoppers, and individual counseling can help a person to create strategies for taming the addiction. Group counseling can be particularly effective in keeping people from regressing back to compulsive shopping.
Just like any other addict, the shopaholic must want to quit. Very little can be accomplished until there is a sincere desire to end the behavior. For some people, this only occurs when they hit rock bottom. Hopefully, recognizing the signs early can help a person to curb the behavior in its infancy, so it does not become an addictive behavior that controls his or her life.
