Compulsive buying disorder

Did You Know?

• Compulsive buying can also be found among people with Parkinson's disease or frontotemporal dementia.
• In individuals with behavioral disorders, the frontal cortex regulation of reward activity malfunctions, and compulsive buyers show significantly different activity in this brain area.

Characteristics

The disorder is marked by a compulsive, destructive, and chronic pattern of buying that differs from healthy shopping. It frequently co-occurs with mood, anxiety, substance abuse, and eating disorders. Individuals scoring high on compulsive-buying scales often have poor understanding of their feelings and low tolerance for negative moods. Onset typically occurs in late adolescence or early adulthood and follows a chronic course. The condition affects women more than men, with one group accounting for over 90% of the affected demographic. Some researchers note similarities between consumer-type behaviors and pathological substance consumption, including a constant need to consume, personal dependence, and lack of self-control. Those affected are often in their second to fourth decades of life and exhibit traits akin to neurotic personality and impulse-control disorders. CBD is distinct from hoarding disorder and mania; it includes not only overspending but also excessive time spent shopping or chronic preoccupation with buying without purchasing. Promising treatments include selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and support groups such as Debtors Anonymous.

Treatment

Becoming conscious of the addiction through study, therapy, and group work is a key part of treatment. Cognitive behavioral therapy delivered over ten weeks has been shown to reduce episodes of compulsive buying and time spent shopping. Patients should first be evaluated for psychiatric comorbidity, particularly depression, so that appropriate pharmacological treatment can be instituted. Few controlled studies have assessed pharmacological treatments, and none have demonstrated any medication to be effective. Group therapy has been reported to yield the highest results, contributing to a 72.8% positive change in reducing urges to spend. However, psychotherapy may not suit all patients, as the fit between treatment method and individual is important. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors such as fluvoxamine and citalopram may be useful, though current evidence is mixed. Opioid antagonists like naltrexone and nalmefene are promising but lack sufficient evidence to support their use at present; they have shown effectiveness in treating gambling addiction.

History

The term oniomania was introduced by French psychiatrist Valentin Magnan in the 1892 German edition of his Psychiatric Lectures, where he linked compulsive buying to social degeneration. Emil Kraepelin later described it as a pathological urge to purchase excessively without need, grouping it with kleptomania and other impulse-control issues. This condition received little attention as a distinct disorder until the 1990s. Since 2019, the ICD-11 has classified compulsive buying-shopping disorder under other specified impulse control disorders.

Society and culture

Mary Todd Lincoln, wife of US president Abraham Lincoln, was allegedly addicted to shopping, running up large bills on credit and experiencing manic glee followed by depressive reactions. From a social psychological perspective, compulsive buying may be seen as an exaggerated form of seeking validation through purchasing. Pressures from materialist values and consumer culture can drive people into compulsive shopping. Companies use aggressive neuromarketing that associates high social status with purchasing, portraying the buyer as a folk hero. Some researchers argue that these companies exploit frailties of the ego to encourage spending.