Are You a Shopaholic?
Do your friends and family joke that you’re a shopaholic? If so, then they may be trying to tell you something. Shopaholics are known for spending a lot of time and money shopping. Sound like you? If you can always find an excuse to go shopping, and an excuse to purchase something on each shopping trip, then you could have a problem.
What’s more, if you feel a “high” after you make a purchase, but then feel guilt, shame, or worry about how you’ll afford what you bought, then you could have a problem. If you can’t stop shopping, even though your out-of-control spending is hurting your financial health, and those that you love, then you could be a compulsive shopper.
Compulsive shopping is a serious psychological disorder that encourages compulsive spending. The goal is not just to “have” more material objects, but instead compulsive shoppers think that the things that they buy will improve their social relationships, appearance, reputation, self-esteem and sense of self-worth. Nothing could be further from the truth.
A 2013 study showed that more than one in ten Americans (11 percent) consider themselves to be shopaholics. Another study from San Francisco State University found that compulsive shoppers are also more likely to experience anxiety, mood, and eating disorders. Most of these compulsive shoppers have poor credit, and poor money management, and that they continue to buy things they don’t need because their brain rewards their purchases with a release of dopamine (our brain’s feel-good-chemical).
