Retail Therapy

By Angelica A. de Leon

In 2000, Elizabeth Roach, a management consultant from Chicago, was tried in court. Her sin? Excessive shopping!

Actually, it was a case of wire fraud. Roach had falsified hundreds of expense account documents and embezzled $241,061 from her employer. However, the root cause of her crime was her voracious appetite for shopping. She used the money to buy expensive clothes and jewelry in Marshall Fields and Barneys.

Shopping, in itself, is not a crime. In the Philippines, shopping malls are sprouting up in Metro Manila and in the provinces, fueled by the hordes of Filipinos who patronize them especially during the Christmas holidays.

And why not? There is nothing wrong with buying that elegant bag on the 15th day of the month, or those strappy sandals at Christmastime. It certainly makes you feel great; and when you're having a bad day, splurging does chase the blues away.

Therapy for tears

The problem is, some people go overboard with their spending habits. They live beyond their means as they shop compulsively for things they don't really need. The reason behind this? To treat depression. Simply put, shopaholics perceive shopping as retail therapy.

The term was first used by the Chicago Tribune in 1986, on the eve of Christmas Day. A sentence in the paper read, “"We've become a nation measuring out our lives in shopping bags and nursing our psychic ills through retail therapy."

The concept of compulsive shopping, also known as shopping addiction or shopaholism, first came into public attention in the late 1800s when German psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin and Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler identified the symptoms of what they called oniomanias – the uncontrollable desire to shop.

Coined by Kraepelin from the Greek words “onios” which means “for sale” and “mania” which means “insanity,” oniomania is actually not recognized as a disorder by the American Psychiatric Association (APA). Not yet anyway. However, this may change as psychologists around the world continue to study this behavior. As of now, only the Deutsche Gesellschaft Zwangserkrankungen (German organization for obsessive-compulsive disorders) has recognized oniomania as a disorder.

The signs of addiction

Oniomania is a cycle – one where the victim falls into a trap. The biggest symptom is a tendency to devote considerable time to shopping especially after experiencing a slew of negative emotions. These include depression, anxiety, boredom, self-critical thoughts, anger, loneliness and emptiness. Most of these people are unable to handle the problems and stress of daily living. Therefore, they easily get depressed.

First, the urge to buy begins to build up. The person grows more and more anxious. To stop this feeling, he immediately takes a trip to the mall. While in the act of buying, the shopper does not just feel excited. There is a sense of “high,” a unique rush of pleasure similar to that experienced by gamblers, food and sex trippers.

Hence, the compulsive shopper forgets his problems and believes that his purchases, though unnecessary, have infused meaning into his life. “'The point of the buying is not to have, but to enjoy the pleasures of shopping,'' explains Lorrin M. Koran, a psychiatrist at Stanford Medical School.

According to psychiatrists, the very act of shopping releases a chemical in the brain. It is called serotonin and it is closely involved in mood control. Low serotonin levels have been associated with mood problems like depression.

However, upon leaving the mall, the positive feelings are replaced by negative ones. The person becomes either regretful or depressed again. To compensate for this, he heads back to the mall for another round of “shopping.” Eventually, he realizes his addiction and feels ashamed. To keep his addiction a secret, he may destroy his purchases, return them to the store, sell them, give them away or simply hide them without removing the items from the packaging or container.

A pained childhood and other mitigating factors

The seeds of shopping addiction are often planted in childhood.

Children neglected by their parents often grow up being angry, lonely and having low self-esteem. To erase these negative feelings and make themselves happier, they turn to their toys. Yet, the sense of deprivation remains so that when they reach adulthood, they continue relying on material things for emotional support. This time however, they are on the hunt for bigger, grander, more expensive possessions – clothes, shoes, accessories, jewelry, perfume, beauty products, watches, CDs, etc. “Comfort buys,” is how they are called.

The current onslaught of credit cards, mail order catalogues and online shopping technology fuels the hunger for material things. Combine this with rising salaries and glaring ads perpetrating the idea that material possessions are important in society, and there you have it – consumer spending is vigorously promoted, thus breeding a generation of oniomaniacs.


In 2001, a European Union study published an alarming conclusion: 33 per cent of shoppers surveyed had "high level of addiction to rash or unnecessary consumption,” causing debt problems for many. The addiction was particularly common among young Scottish people.

Meanwhile, a 2006 United States study showed that nearly 6 percent of the U.S. population can be called compulsive buyers, averaging $9,000 in credit card debt. “And it's not just the wealthy,” claimed Dr. April Lane Benson, a psychologist who specializes in treating compulsive shoppers. “There are compulsive shoppers on welfare too,” she said.

Furthermore, research showed that it isn't just women who shop too much. Men do, too, picking up gadgets, electronic components and tools from department stores. One particular man reportedly even bought 4,000 wrenches.

Michael Kyrios, professor of psychology at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia studied 200 compulsive shoppers and stated, "We are seeing an increase in compulsive buying in Western countries.”

Dr. Helga Dittmar of the University of Essex in the United Kingdom added that the condition has risen sharply in the past 10 years or so, with 90 percent of shopping addicts being women.

How about our country? Are Filipinos overly addicted to shopping because of an underlying depression? We do not know for sure. However, I'm certain you know of at least one person who heads to the mall every time he receives his paycheck, faithfully goes to the stores every time they go on sale, or shops for clothes relentlessly yet never wears all of them. Look closely. That person may be an oniomaniac.

Considers these findings

In 2001, a European Union study published an alarming conclusion: 33 per cent of shoppers surveyed had "high level of addiction to rash or unnecessary consumption,” causing debt problems for many. The addiction was particularly common among young Scottish people.

Meanwhile, a 2006 United States study showed that nearly 6 percent of the U.S. population can be called compulsive buyers, averaging $9,000 in credit card debt. “And it's not just the wealthy,” claimed Dr. April Lane Benson, a psychologist who specializes in treating compulsive shoppers. “There are compulsive shoppers on welfare too,” she said.

Furthermore, research showed that it isn't just women who shop too much. Men do, too, picking up gadgets, electronic components and tools from department stores. One particular man reportedly even bought 4,000 wrenches.

Michael Kyrios, professor of psychology at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia studied 200 compulsive shoppers and stated, "We are seeing an increase in compulsive buying in Western countries.”

Dr. Helga Dittmar of the University of Essex in the United Kingdom added that the condition has risen sharply in the past 10 years or so, with 90 percent of shopping addicts being women.

How about our country? Are Filipinos overly addicted to shopping because of an underlying depression? We do not know for sure. However, I'm certain you know of at least one person who heads to the mall every time he receives his paycheck, faithfully goes to the stores every time they go on sale, or shops for clothes relentlessly yet never wears all of them. Look closely. That person may be an oniomaniac.

Smell the flowers, not the perfume

Treatments for shopping addiction vary.

Counseling and therapies for individuals, groups and couples are available. In the Philippines, hospitals are equipped with treatment facilities and staffed with highly-trained doctors qualified to deal with this type of patients.

Medications in the form of antidepressants, mood stabilizers, and opiod antagonists have also been used with varying effectiveness. In particular, several modern antidepressants, known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or SSRIs such as Prozac, work well with serotonin levels. They've been shown to be effective in the treatment of depression and shopaholism. Reading self-help books and joining support groups also help.

But, doctors emphasize that people should not fall into this kind of addiction in the first place. Hence, it is important that people acknowledge their sense of emptiness and depression and thus, need help.

For starters, they may perform two simple acts which otherwise help raise serotonin levels and thus ease depression: exercising and eating dark chocolates and carbohydrates (in moderation).

Depressed individuals are also encouraged to talk to a doctor for professional counseling, or to family and friends. Conversations with these people will help them get to the bottom of the problem and identify ways to solve it.

They don't need to shut themselves out from the mall scene. They can still enjoy the pleasures of shopping of course, provided they are accompanied by someone who does not have the addiction and who will remind them to control their spending.

Indeed, there are a hundred ways to enjoy life and be truly happy. To achieve real happiness, people should junk the widespread belief that material possessions are everything in this world, and thus boost self-esteem.

Instead of emptying one's wallet on tangible but meaningless objects, doctors recommend spending on life-defining and equally enjoyable experiences. Join volunteer organizations or community programs. Take short courses or enroll in a Master's degree. Engage in a sport or hobby. Have bonding moments with family and friends. Watch a movie together and have dinner at a special restaurant. Go to the lake or the park, have a picnic, and watch the sunset. Hie off to the beach and admire nature. Plan out of town trips to tourist spots, or overseas holiday vacations. Just remember to live within your means.

Dr. Benson explains the idea further:

“Shopping addiction treatment is still very much in a formative stage. Society, advertising, and the media all conspire against the cultivation of true wealth, which cannot be quantified in a financial balance sheet but must instead be felt and sensed: self-esteem, family, friendships, a sense of community, health, education, creative pursuits, communion with nature. It is inner poverty, both emotional and spiritual, that is at the core of most shopping addictions.”

As they say, stop and smell the flowers. Well, why not?

---

SOURCES:

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res
http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/ask_the_doctor/depressionshopping.shtmls
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oniomania
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retail_therapy
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Depression/story
http://www.nbc30.com/news/16329744/detail.html
http://www.articlecity.com/articles/self_improvement_and_motivation/article_4390.shtml
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/retail-therapy/2005/