Other estimates for the prevalence of compulsive buying range from a low of 2 percent to 12 percent or more of the U.S. They found the spending problem afflicts men and women at about the same rate. population fits the compulsive-buyer build. The results of a telephone survey by Koran and his colleagues of more than 2,500 people, detailed in a 2006 issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry, showed that an average of nearly 6 percent of the U.S. One woman was within weeks of losing her house.Īlthough the consequences can be 'quite severe,' Koran says the so-called impulse control disorder is treatable and urges those afflicted to seek psychiatric help. Koran recalls some of the compulsive buyers in his research declaring bankruptcy and getting divorced over their buying disorder. 'It can cause a lot of suffering and family dysfunction, because there are arguments about, 'Why are you buying these things you don't use? why are you spending this money?'' 'They suffer a lot because of the emotional drain of being in debt and wondering what's going to happen, carrying these huge credit-card balances that go up and up and up,' said Stanford University psychiatrist Lorrin Koran. Some excessive spenders cover up debt or purchases - similar to an alcoholic hiding bottles - which can strain once-honest relationships. These include massive credit-card debt, spoiled relationships, work problems and depression and anxiety, according to the Illinois Institute for Addiction Recovery.

The consequences of compulsive shopping are far-reaching and could outlast the trendy pair of shoes or digital device you just purchased.

'When it becomes our natural response to bad feelings or bad events in our life, to go shopping as a kind of retail therapy, it can really become a problem,' Roberts told LiveScience. Some researchers have likened compulsive buying to other addictive behaviors that individuals use to escape life to the point where that behavior controls the person rather than vice versa. Part of the problem, experts say, is that compulsive shopping is often viewed favorably rather than being treated as a problem.

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