7 Symptoms of shopping addiction

Compulsive Buying Disorder (CBD), also known as shopping addiction, is a behavioral addiction characterized by excessive spending to alleviate negative emotions, stress, and tension. Here are the seven signs of shopping addiction:

1. Mood Relief: Not shopping can lead to a deterioration in mood; individuals with shopping addiction may become irritable and agitated without the ability to shop, with prolonged intervals since the last purchase potentially increasing stress.

2. Mood Improvement Through Shopping: Those with a shopping addiction often turn to shopping to escape feelings of anxiety, helplessness, and loneliness. Spending money can provide temporary relief from these negative emotions or help forget the stresses of life.

3. Interference in Life: Excessive spending can negatively impact academic and work performance, leading to neglect of daily responsibilities and hobbies, and causing tension in relationships with family and friends.

4. Impact on Well-being: Shopping addiction can negatively affect personal and financial situations, leading to the accumulation of debt and guilt over spending habits.

5. Obsession with Shopping: Individuals with shopping addiction may spend a significant amount of time fantasizing about shopping, viewing it as an essential part of life, a defining factor of shopping addiction.

6. Difficulty Reducing Spending: Those with shopping addiction often find it challenging to stop their extravagant spending, experiencing periods of restricted spending followed by relapses.

7. Worsening Spending Habits: Individuals with shopping addiction may continually purchase more items to achieve the same level of satisfaction, becoming more lenient with their spending habits, potentially leading to the purchase of more items than intended.

The causes of shopping addiction may include low self-esteem, certain personality traits, the influence of social media, and underlying mental health conditions such as anxiety disorders, eating disorders, personality disorders, or substance use disorders. Shopping may temporarily alleviate internal tension and negative emotions but often leads to temporary satisfaction, which can result in financial issues, damaged relationships, impacts on work or study, and neglect of daily responsibilities and hobbies.

Strategies to cope with shopping addiction include creating and maintaining a savings account, challenging oneself to spend nothing for a fixed period, setting and strictly adhering to a budget, using only cash or debit cards for payments, practicing gratitude, unsubscribing from store email newsletters, and waiting a day before making a purchase. Additionally, treating shopping addiction may involve the use of antidepressants, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and support groups to help individuals identify issues, deal with negative emotions, and establish healthy coping mechanisms.