Shopping addiction, or oniomania as it is also known, is a psychological disorder that must be taken seriously. According to scientific research, shopping increases the hormone serotonin, which provides happiness. Symptoms of shopping addiction have been detected in 47.9 percent of women and 37.4 percent of men. Individuals who are shopping addicts experience positive emotions after shopping, and as time goes on, shopping becomes a way to escape from negative feelings. As the condition progresses, feelings of guilt and regret begin to arise in the individual after the act of shopping.
What is Shopping Addiction (oniomania)?
People with shopping addiction aim to cope with any problem and escape from it by shopping, through an instantaneous feeling of well-being. However, since this is a temporary emotion, after a while, the person turns to shopping again to try to relax using the same method. Whatever psychological problem underlies the shopping addiction, it must first be identified for treatment.
People want to shop to make themselves feel good, but in addiction, the situation is different. This is a pattern of behavior. After purchasing, he experiences a sense of pleasure and relief, but after a while, he begins to experience feelings of regret and guilt.
What Are the Symptoms of Shopping Addiction?
In shopping addiction, called oniomania, there is an obsessive, impulsive behavior pattern. It generally manifests itself with symptoms starting as an uncontrollable and excessive desire to shop outside of need, spending money, and an intense mental preoccupation with excessive spending.
We can list the symptoms of shopping addiction, which manifest themselves for certain reasons, as follows:
- The person wanting to spend money when he feels bad
- Relaxing, feeling powerful, and peaceful upon shopping
- A very serious increase in the amount of money spent
- Negative situations arising in the family or close circle of the person spending money
- Shopping more than calculated
- The person being unable to stop himself after starting to spend
- Receiving criticism from the environment due to excessive shopping
In addition to these, psychologically, the person generally feels the need to shop when he feels angry, anxious, or sad; while he feels joy, pleasure, and enthusiasm during shopping, he relaxes as he sees the shopping bags, and in the long term, feelings of guilt, distress, and shame begin to emerge. After a while, as the amount of money spent and the shopping done create problems in the person's life, the situation turns into a pathological vicious cycle.
How Is Shopping Addiction Treated?
Shopping addiction is not only a psychological disorder that needs to be treated, but it is actually a serious type of addiction. It is a frequently encountered type of behavior pattern today. Medications that control the person's behaviors, anti-depressants, may be recommended in treatment. Additionally, cognitive behavioral therapies and EMDR therapy are extremely beneficial in resolving the traumas causing the addiction. Thus, they greatly assist in the treatment of the disorder.
