woman & shopping

Shopaholism

by Prachi Thanawala

I have fifty minutes before my exam will be over. Ten minutes have already passed and the only thing I've written so far is my name. I continue to stare at the black type and attempt to make sense of it all. Five minutes remaining and I quickly jot down my final thoughts. My time is up. Usually I would be excited to find out my exam score, but this time there was no use in knowing. I knew I failed. I decided not to attend the rest of my classes for the day and instead do what I usually do when I need to forget about my troubles and just escape into my own world where everything is perfect; go shopping. After my little excursion to the mall, I came back elated, with a bunch of shopping bags in my hands and a huge bill in my pocket. I find myself escaping reality through shopping quite often, but fortunately I do know my limits; however, there are many people who have formed an addiction to shopping. They're almost like alcoholics.

Reasons for excessive shopping vary from wanting to keep up with friends or fashion to simply cheering oneself up. But dysfunctional shopping behavior can easily get out of control. Like alcoholism, notes Chicago psychoanalyst Robert Galatzer-Levy, compulsive shopping represents a case of "the ordinary pleasures of living getting out of hand." Just as nearly every alcoholic starts out as a social drinker, a shopping addict starts out as a recreational shopper -- bringing a little color into a gray day by picking up a pair (or three) of shoes. About 90 years ago, German psychologist, Emil Kraepelin defined excessive shopping as an illness, calling it "oniomania" after the Latin onos, or price, but only recently has this disorder begun to be understood.

According to Observer Magazine, one becomes a shopaholic only when the pleasure of shopping turns into an irrational compulsion, but still the disorder is more like binge eating and other impulse-control problems rather than obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Victims of OCD find relief, not pleasure, in compulsive rituals such as washing hands or counting ceiling tiles, whereas compulsive shoppers feel a distinct high. This euphoria keeps them coming back for more, and more, and more.

Compulsive buyers are not able to control their behavior through rational considerations such as not having enough money, and with the easy availability of credit, it's not long before they find themselves in debt. The words credit and card pop up in almost every shopaholic's story. While credit cards don't cause compulsive shopping, they certainly function as enablers and make it easier for undisciplined spenders to get into big trouble in a big hurry. Lorrin Koran, a Stanford psychiatrist and a prominent researcher in the field, says most of the shopaholics he sees developed their addiction in their early twenties, not long after they got their first real jobs and their first credit cards. It isn't just compulsive shopper that have trouble with the plastic, we all do. When we use credit cards it doesn't feel like we're spending real money and according to Gary Herman, director of counseling services for Consolidated Consumer Credit, people who use credit cards tend to spend 20 percent to 30 percent more than they would if they spent cash. With all the credit card usage that goes on, debt increases and we tend to go into denial about how much money we really owe. According to Laury Ausubel, consumers tend to dramatically underestimate the credit-card debt they're carrying, with card users typically owing more than twice what they think they owe.

From 1992 to 2002, credit card debt went up to 157%, roughly $8,400, for the average American household as stated in Money Magazine. So what allows credit card companies to make their customers delusional? Well, according to an MIT economist, Drezan Prelec, credit cards compensate for the pain of paying for things through the pleasure of having the power to buy them making it psychologically easy to splurge. Compulsive shoppers are aware of the control credit cards have over them and yet they still go on to buy luxury items just because when actually paying for the item it feels as though its free until six months down the road when they're so in debt that the only way to relieve themselves is to buy more things.

It's not just credit cards that seem to be a problem. The advertising industry is just as much to blame. It's quite easy to be swayed by the glitzy and nostalgic advertising companies use. The catchy slogans and strategies used draw viewers in and in no time you have a bunch of new customers. For instance, BMW's famous slogan, "The Ultimate Driving Machine," persuades people to think that any car that isn't a BMW isn't good enough. Other appealing slogans include DeBeer's "A diamond is forever," or Levi Jeans' "You walk a little taller in Levis." Tactics such as these persuade people into buying more, and more, and more.

With 90% of compulsive shoppers being women, theories on the disorder vary. According to Dr. Adrienne Baker of Regent's College in London, there is a strong link between compulsive shopping and an inadequate maternal relationship. Often the mother may have been depressed herself or was absent emotionally causing the daughter to develop low self esteem and resort to shopping to find happiness, which in reality is only a cover up for a low self image. Most compulsive shoppers tend to have a history of psychological problems and troubles at home play a huge factor in forming this compulsion as well.

So is there a cure for shopaholism? According to Money Magazine, a team of Stanford researchers led by psychiatrist Koran have found that the antidepressant Celexa might help obsessed shoppers overcome their compulsion. Their results seem quite promising. Sixty percent of the two dozen compulsive shoppers treated by Koran and his team responded rapidly to the treatment. Although these astonishing results are suggestive of a cure, there is no hard proof yet that a pill can cure shopaholism. Since shopaholism is classified as an impulse control disorder, which is often the result of depression, it explains why antidepressant medication could serve as a cure. Donald Black, a psychiatrist at the University of Iowa, suggests that for most compulsive shoppers, self control is the only solution. According to Black, obsessed buyers should just cut up their credit cards, get rid of their checkbooks, and stop shopping alone.

If you feel as though your spending habits might indicate signs of shopaholism then you should start curtailing your behavior as soon as possible. Most compulsive buyers tend to make their spending mistakes in one recurring area. To find out where your weakness lies, take an inventory of everything you own and make a mental note of it so that the next time you go shopping you can resist the urge of buying that item. You can even postpone buying something to quell your urge because if you wait 24 hours, chances are you probably won't want it anymore. Another approach you can take is to buy less than you ordinarily would have, for example, instead of buying three pairs of shoes buy only one. You could also put yourself on a 30 day spending moratorium and use only cash on basic necessities such as food and transportation. Having a strict budget of how you will spend your paycheck and keeping track of every penny also helps.

When I first read about shopaholism, I was quite frightened because at times I do go shopping to relieve stress and I do come back with lots of bags in my hands, but I don't own a credit card so I know my limits since I'm using cash. Now I wonder what will happen when I do get a credit card, but hopefully I'll be alright since I'm reducing my expenditure on unnecessary items already. I think if we recognize a problem in our spending habits at an early stage, then we can prevent falling victim to shopaholism, but if we continue to deny the problem and go on buying more and more for no apparent reason then the situation may get out of hand and treatment would be needed. Like binge eating or pathological gambling, shopaholism distorts our sense of self and if anyone feels as though he or she might be falling victim to this disorder then it is highly recommended that something is done immediately, before it becomes too late.

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p.s: pro and contra... :) at least saya tidak la sampai ke tahap ini kot??

miss oniomania, me called myself!