Oniomania: A Shopping Addiction

When most people hear the term “shopping addicts”, they think of the Valley Girl with Daddy’s credit card. In fact, those in the marketing field don’t even acknowledge it as an addiction. However, the American Psychological Association sees Oniomania (or “Compulsive Shopping”) as a very real and very serious problem. 

A shopaholic can experience most, if not all, of the same symptoms than that of a drug addict. While they are spending money they feel, in a sense, a “high” similar to a drug addict. When they are not shopping they go through a form of withdrawal and can not stop thinking about spending more money. It is said that “addictions tend to come in clusters”. So, you may develop a shopping addiction if you suffer from any of the following; an eating disorder, alcoholism or drug addiction. 

The person feels out of control, which can affect other people and things in their life. 

They tend to shop to “make themselves feel better” when they are angry, depressed or lonely. While they are shopping they feel temporarily released from their everyday problems. They will go to the store or mall only needing one thing and leave with their arms filled with bags. There have been cases of people who actually “black out” and don’t even remember buying the items when they get home. 

Some ways to tell whether someone is addicted to shopping include; if they spend unthinkable amounts of money on items that they don’t need or if their closets are filled with items that still have the tags on them and have never been worn. They tend to hide the items that they buy and deny that they have a problem. They also tend to not be excited about what they are buying, but instead on just the act of buying it. Usually the person with this addiction is financially “in the hole” and continue to build up dept and run credit cards to their limit. Some even take on extra jobs just to pay for the overwhelming bills.