Shopping addiction
Shopping addiction is characterized by an eagerness to purchase unnecessary or superfluous things and a lack of impulse control when it comes to shopping. It is a concept similar to compulsive buying disorder (oniomania), but usually has a more psychosocial perspective,[1] or is viewed as a drug-free addiction like addiction to gambling, Internet, or video-games.[2]
Relationships with other disorders[edit]
The relationship of shopping addiction with other psychological disorders – especially with those regarding depression or anxiety - has been studied. This addiction has also been related with low self-esteem and with personality features such as impulsivity, materialism and hedonism.
Depression problems are the most frequent consequence in the most serious cases of shopping addiction. This is due to the fact that many consumers use shopping as a means to compensate or to face depressive states. Edwards (1992) in a research to study the influence of some personal variables in two groups, one of shopping addicts and another of non-addict consumers, came to the conclusion that depression is a trigger for shopping addiction problems. In agreement with this data, other researchers have pointed out the high incidence rate of depressive disorders among shopping addicts: Mc.Elloy (1994) placed at 25% the rate of addicts with depressive problems, Lejoyeux (1998) at 61%, and Black, Montaban and Gabel (1997) at 60%.[16] More recent research shows that shopping addicts usually have feelings of leading an unsatisfactory and listless life, without any hope or excitement. In these cases, by means of purchase, the addicts seek for a way of escape, a satisfaction, even if momentary to compensate and to bear the depressive feelings.[17]
Cole (1995) carried out research with a sample of 420 people and come to the conclusion that anxiety has an essential role in shopping addiction, as an antecedent or a triggering factor. In another study, Valence (1988) revealed that as the level of anxiety rises, the possibility of developing shopping addiction grows. Clinical research on the rate incidence of anxiety disorders in shopping addition also shows this relationship, although the percentage changes a lot: Shlosser (1994) 42%; McElroy (1994) 80%, and Christenson (1994) 50%. Research carried out by Garcés and Salcedo in 2005, based on a sample of 253 young people,[18] concluded that the anxiety trait has a significant influence on shopping addiction but, by itself, is not determinant.
Population differences[edit]
Gender[edit]
A higher rate of incidence of shopping addiction in women was pointed out in the first research works on the subject, so much so that it was considered a “women problem”.[19] Some researchers thought that this was a specifically female manifestation of problems of depression or obsessive-compulsive disorders. Others, from a psychoanalyst point of view, thought that it was a problem very similar to kleptomania and they related it to sexual repression to explain the high rate of incidence in women. Research carried out in the last century confirmed this difference although disagreeing on the scope.[20] Other hypotheses have been stated to explain these differences. For example, people more easily develop addictions to behaviours they normally undertake and most home purchasing is still done by women. Since shopping is for many women one of their most usual activities, as obligation or as entertainment, it easily becomes an important mechanism of escape, facing other problems and ending up being an addiction.[5] Another possible cause is that the most striking cases of shopping excesses are usually related to clothes, shoes, cosmetics and accessories, products which relate to physical appearance and are more frequently bought by women.[5] The excessive purchase of other products such as electronic, computer or D.I.Y ones, accessories of cars, etc., that are frequently done by men usually goes unnoticed.[21] This appraisal has been confirmed by research on different products bought by addicted women and men. Several studies (Flaber, O´Guin and Krych in 1987, Scherhorn 1990, and McElroy in 1994), agree that women spend more on clothes, footwear, perfumes and, in general terms, men tend to spend more on sports equipment, car accessories and electronic products. The 1999 European Report established that women are drawn by activities like going shopping or window shopping, spending time in malls, escorting other people shopping. Moreover, they more frequently use shopping as a means of facing states of sadness, depression or downheartedness. However, the Report does not indicate significant differences between men and women related to economic self-control or impulsive purchase.
Age[edit]
Research carried out on people undergoing treatment, as well as on the general population[22] has revealed a negative correlation between age and addiction. As the age of people increases there is a lower number of shopping addicts. These data were confirmed by the 1999 European Report.[10] It must be noted that the age of diagnosis is much later than the age when the problems of addiction begin. Most addicts have the first symptoms of addiction in their twenties, but do not ask for help nor accept treatment until more than ten years afterwards. To explain the higher incidence of shopping addiction in young people, it has been shown [23] that younger people have been born, and have grown up, in an increasingly consumerist society and they have endured the impact of publicity and marketing from birth. On the contrary, it is very unusual to find shopping addiction problems in people older than 65 years.[24]
Diagnosis[edit]
Since people buying more than they need is usual and accepted, even the most excessive behaviour takes a long time before being considered pathological. Shopping addiction generally manifests between 20–30 years old,[6] but is not usually detected until several years after, when the addiction has led the person to ruin and bankruptcy.
There are usually two stages in coping with the problem. First, people around the addict or the health or social services detect the problem and try to treat it. When, because of the seriousness of the case, it is not possible to solve it in this way, specialised professionals, such as psychologist or psychiatrics, take part. The diagnosis and evaluation of shopping addiction is based on the analysis of confirmed behaviours and their consequences. Specific tests or questionnaires, as the FACC-II (Questionnaire on the psychological aspects of consumer addiction, debt and personal spending habits) are also used. These specific questionnaires or tests are useful in the diagnosis and evaluation of shopping addiction problems, and to drive the therapies in a proper way. FACC-II is one of the most specific and widest. The Edwards Scale is another approach which measures the tendency to compulsively buy.[11] All these resources, as well as personal interviews of the addict and people who surround them, reports and other documents, enable knowledge of when people buy, what they buy and the methods of payment used.[30] Signs of addiction can include: planning future purchases, unable to stop the urge of shopping, rush of dopamine when buying, regretful after purchased items, financial issues begin, and buying unnecessary items.[31]
Treatment[edit]
Pharmacological treatment[edit]
The inclusion of this problem in the obsessive-compulsive disorders and its relation with depression has led to some use of antidepressants as a treatment. Within antidepressant drugs, special attention has been paid to those related to serotonin, a brain neurotransmitter. This substance is supposed to be related to deficiencies in stimulus control, so that medicines like fluoxetine and fluvoxamine, which raise the level of serotonin in the brain, would be a pharmacological alternative to treat shopping addiction. Even though results are not conclusive, in the nineties some research was carried out which supported the effectiveness of these treatments, at least in certain cases.[32][26]
Behaviour therapy[edit]
The treatment of shopping addiction – in contrast to other addictions as the gambling, alcohol or smoking - cannot seek to permanently remove the addicts from the behaviour. After therapy, they must be able to face consumer stimuli which surround them and maintain self-control. Because of this, the most usual therapies are behavioural ones.,[26] especially stimuli control and exposure and response prevention.
Guardianship[edit]
In the treatment of shopping addiction it is often very useful for other people – usually friends, relatives or educators -to help addicts control their expenses and impulsive purchases.[17] In these cases, addicts have to accept that all their money, credit cards, bank accounts, etc., will be controlled by the guardian. This person becomes their “voluntary guardian”. It is possible that the addict has also to accept not to go alone to stores and other limitations, even legal.
Self-registration techniques[edit]
Self-registration techniques involve addicts noting down their activities to be able to remember and analyse them. This can range from a simple personal accountability of income and expenses, in the cases of minor economic lack of control, to a detailed diary of purchase, events and feelings, in the more serious cases of shopping addiction.[33] Self-registration is useful to get clues about the behaviour, which could otherwise go unnoticed to the addicts themselves. Moreover, it is, in itself, a therapeutic means that helps addicts understand and reflect on their behaviour. These techniques are effective in improving economic self-control and avoiding impulsive purchase and are generally included, one way or another, in all programmes of treatment.