Oniomania, or a shopping addiction, is a problem for around six percent of Americans today. Many times people begin having issues with excessive shopping when they struggle with depression, anxiety and stress. This is what makes this an addiction. When a person is relieving stress with some sort of outside thing, it can soon become too much to control and eventually hurt their finances and even ruin relationships. Keep in mind that this is not buying what you need or looking for good shopping deals. This is when stress is released when an item is purchased. It literally takes the buyer away from the problems they are struggling with and brings relief just as drugs do for a substance addict.
There are many reasons as to why someone may begin to have a shopping addiction. The first reason is that shopping fills the hole of being emotionally deprived. This can include loneliness and emptiness and shopping helps the addict cope and feel as though they are taking control back in their life. Shopping also helps the addict become distracted from issues that they are facing in their life as well as a little bit of danger. Danger comes from spending too much and not having the finances to compensate for the amount spent. No matter what the reason is to why the addict needs to shop, generally the person wants to feel as though they are needed and accepted into society.
There is treatment for a shopping addiction. At the beginning, the addict will have to come to grips with exactly how much money they are spending and what type of damage that is being caused by their addiction. Then, the addict will need to realize who in their life in enabling them and remove those people and resources from their life. Mostly therapy is needed and this way, the addict can not only stop the spending but see what the emotional reasoning is to why they started being and addict to shopping.
Overall, just as with any addiction, when it comes to a shopping addiction, if you can recognize that there is a problem early on in the addiction, there is more hope to be able to stop it. Also, since this addiction involves shopping, when the warning signs are recognized by friends and family, there is going to be less monetary consequence in the end. As with all addictions, now is the time to start treatment and get back to life.
