In the latest edition of the DSM-V, the manual used for mental diagnosis at a medical level, shopping addiction is mentioned but is not counted among the disorders because, although considered a repetitive behavior otherwise defined as “addictive behavior”, it is missing objective data for a clear and unambiguous classification.
The morbid picture of reference is however that of obsessive-compulsive disorder . The will to shop is not completely free : there are thoughts and compulsions that, regardless of conscience, push towards the realization of the shopping.
It is not possible to identify a single underlying cause of this behavior but, as it works for other addictions, a set of psychological and neurological causes contribute to the crystallization of this behavior.
Furthermore, in recent years, this phenomenon has spread further thanks to the possibility of online shopping, coining the category of “addiction to online shopping”.
In this article, compulsive shopping and addiction to shopping will be placed side by side and treated as a single disorder, on the basis that compulsion and addictive behavior can be considered similar, compulsion can be a manifestation of an addictive aspect of the person.
Shopping as an outlet
As already explained in other posts, in order to talk about dependent behavior , this behavior must not be under direct control, it must escape the conscious control of the subject . In this case we can speak of a difficulty in impulse control. Often this dis-control is present in people who, on the contrary, try to put everything under their control, the so-called “control freaks “.
The more one tries to maintain control and more there is a risk that this control , in one or more aspects of everyday life, is missing altogether . Furthermore, stressful family, emotional or professional situations intensify these compulsive behaviors. These become the relief valve of all the difficulties that cannot be managed otherwise and that in some way must be externalized.
Shopping therefore becomes one of those behaviors that allow the person to find momentary relief . Among other things, shopping is less harmful to one’s health than other addictions and, in non-extreme cases, does not put the financial health of one’s bank account at risk. For this reason it is more acceptable to others or easier to hide .
Symptoms of Complimentary Shopping
In the absence of a validated international classification, we try the same to define the symptoms that can differentiate the pleasure of shopping from the compulsion.
- Inability to controlthis behavior;
- Worsening of behaviorfollowing stressful situations
- Purchase of useless goods, loss of interest as soon as the purchase is completed, the thought immediately passes to the next;
- Obsessive thinking about the goodsyou want to buy;
- Incorrect behavior towards othersaimed at hiding this behavior;
- Loss of judgmentregarding purchases with serious consequences for your financial situation.
- Considerations and causes
- We can hypothesize that compulsive shopping falls within the universe of obsessive-compulsive disorders. In this case we therefore find a side linked to obsessive thoughts relating to purchases , more or less intrusive.
- These thoughts always refer to the asset you want to buy, a sort of “obsession” that cannot be pushed away until the purchase action is carried out. Behind these fixed thoughts, perhaps, however, it is possible to trace another function, namely the possibility of diverting one’s conscience from much more serious thoughts or concerns.
- Thus the utility aspect of this unconscious strategy is highlighted. The compulsive aspect is complementary to the obsessive one. If obsessiveness pertains to thought, compulsivity concerns acting out, in this case the purchase dictated more by the need to perform a dutythan by real pleasure.
- The purchase, in fact, could be completed as an attempt to relieve obsessive thinking, as an “impulsive” action not mediated by reason or as a felt need. In any case it is not an action of pleasure but of duty, this is the big difference between normal and pathological shopping.
- Online shopping
- In recent years, the development of online shopping has intensified the problem of compulsive shopping. The offer proposed by e-commerce that allows you to make purchases comfortably from your smartphone, without having to go to the store, sometimes with the simple touch of a finger, made it as easy as it is irresistible.
- It becomes even more difficult for those vulnerable to this issue to resist, because any physical impediment has been cleverly suppressed. If a few seconds and a couple of finger presses are enough to switch between purchases, satisfaction will be even shorter.
- Possible solutions
- Like all disorders of the obsessive-compulsive sphere, the possibility of reducing the mania for control, a typical characteristic in these cases, allows you to abandon rigid patterns which at the same time are a privileged tool but also a trap for those who adopt them.
- This can happen in the context of a psychotherapeutic paththat authorizes the person to speak authentically about himself, thus reasoning on those delicate knots of his own existence that in everyday life it is not allowed to recall to consciousness.
Symptoms of Complimentary Shopping
In the absence of a validated international classification, we try the same to define the symptoms that can differentiate the pleasure of shopping from the compulsion.
- Inability to controlthis behavior;
- Worsening of behaviorfollowing stressful situations
- Purchase of useless goods, loss of interest as soon as the purchase is completed, the thought immediately passes to the next;
- Obsessive thinking about the goodsyou want to buy;
- Incorrect behavior towards othersaimed at hiding this behavior;
- Loss of judgmentregarding purchases with serious consequences for your financial situation.
- Considerations and causes
- We can hypothesize that compulsive shopping falls within the universe of obsessive-compulsive disorders. In this case we therefore find a side linked to obsessive thoughts relating to purchases , more or less intrusive.
- These thoughts always refer to the asset you want to buy, a sort of “obsession” that cannot be pushed away until the purchase action is carried out. Behind these fixed thoughts, perhaps, however, it is possible to trace another function, namely the possibility of diverting one’s conscience from much more serious thoughts or concerns.
- Thus the utility aspect of this unconscious strategy is highlighted. The compulsive aspect is complementary to the obsessive one. If obsessiveness pertains to thought, compulsivity concerns acting out, in this case the purchase dictated more by the need to perform a dutythan by real pleasure.
- The purchase, in fact, could be completed as an attempt to relieve obsessive thinking, as an “impulsive” action not mediated by reason or as a felt need. In any case it is not an action of pleasure but of duty, this is the big difference between normal and pathological shopping.
- Online shopping
- In recent years, the development of online shopping has intensified the problem of compulsive shopping. The offer proposed by e-commerce that allows you to make purchases comfortably from your smartphone, without having to go to the store, sometimes with the simple touch of a finger, made it as easy as it is irresistible.
- It becomes even more difficult for those vulnerable to this issue to resist, because any physical impediment has been cleverly suppressed. If a few seconds and a couple of finger presses are enough to switch between purchases, satisfaction will be even shorter.
- Possible solutions
- Like all disorders of the obsessive-compulsive sphere, the possibility of reducing the mania for control, a typical characteristic in these cases, allows you to abandon rigid patterns which at the same time are a privileged tool but also a trap for those who adopt them.
- This can happen in the context of a psychotherapeutic paththat authorizes the person to speak authentically about himself, thus reasoning on those delicate knots of his own existence that in everyday life it is not allowed to recall to consciousness.
Symptoms of Complimentary Shopping
In the absence of a validated international classification, we try the same to define the symptoms that can differentiate the pleasure of shopping from the compulsion.
- Inability to controlthis behavior;
- Worsening of behaviorfollowing stressful situations
- Purchase of useless goods, loss of interest as soon as the purchase is completed, the thought immediately passes to the next;
- Obsessive thinking about the goodsyou want to buy;
- Incorrect behavior towards othersaimed at hiding this behavior;
- Loss of judgmentregarding purchases with serious consequences for your financial situation.
- Considerations and causes
- We can hypothesize that compulsive shopping falls within the universe of obsessive-compulsive disorders. In this case we therefore find a side linked to obsessive thoughts relating to purchases , more or less intrusive.
- These thoughts always refer to the asset you want to buy, a sort of “obsession” that cannot be pushed away until the purchase action is carried out. Behind these fixed thoughts, perhaps, however, it is possible to trace another function, namely the possibility of diverting one’s conscience from much more serious thoughts or concerns.
- Thus the utility aspect of this unconscious strategy is highlighted. The compulsive aspect is complementary to the obsessive one. If obsessiveness pertains to thought, compulsivity concerns acting out, in this case the purchase dictated more by the need to perform a dutythan by real pleasure.
- The purchase, in fact, could be completed as an attempt to relieve obsessive thinking, as an “impulsive” action not mediated by reason or as a felt need. In any case it is not an action of pleasure but of duty, this is the big difference between normal and pathological shopping.
- Online shopping
- In recent years, the development of online shopping has intensified the problem of compulsive shopping. The offer proposed by e-commerce that allows you to make purchases comfortably from your smartphone, without having to go to the store, sometimes with the simple touch of a finger, made it as easy as it is irresistible.
- It becomes even more difficult for those vulnerable to this issue to resist, because any physical impediment has been cleverly suppressed. If a few seconds and a couple of finger presses are enough to switch between purchases, satisfaction will be even shorter.
- Possible solutions
- Like all disorders of the obsessive-compulsive sphere, the possibility of reducing the mania for control, a typical characteristic in these cases, allows you to abandon rigid patterns which at the same time are a privileged tool but also a trap for those who adopt them.
- This can happen in the context of a psychotherapeutic paththat authorizes the person to speak authentically about himself, thus reasoning on those delicate knots of his own existence that in everyday life it is not allowed to recall to consciousness.
