Oniomania (from Greek ὤνιος onios "for sale" and μανία mania "insanity"[1]) is the technical term for the compulsive desire to shop, more commonly referred to as compulsive shopping, shopping addiction, shopaholism, compulsive buying or CB. All of these are considered to be either clinical addictions or impulse control disorders, depending on the clinical source. 'Originally termed oniomania by Kraepelin [1915] and Bleuler [1924], CB has been described for over 100 years';[2] but though included among other pathological and reactive impulses, CB went largely ignored for the middle quarters of the twentieth century, and even today 'Compulsive Shopping is a painful yet virtually unknown mental illness'.[3]
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'Some psychiatrists believe compulsive buying is more indicative of an impulse control disorder, others think it is more indicative of an obsessive-compulsive disorder...or bipolar disorder'[4] or even an addiction. It has been accepted as a disorder by the Deutsche Gesellschaft Zwangserkrankungen (German organization for obsessive-compulsive disorders), for several years.[5]; but in the United States, 'an Impulse control disorder not otherwise specified...is the diagnostic category usually accorded to compulsive buying'.[6] (It may be under consideration for inclusion as a separate specific Impulse-Control Disorder in the next edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.).
'Only in the past 15 years have we seen specific and persistent inquiry into this disorder', as compared with 'some of its psychological siblings'[7] such as alcoholism, eating disorders or drug abuse; but 'there is more and more evidence, both research and anecdotal, that it poses a serious and worsening problem, one with significant emotional, social, occupational, and financial consequences.[8] Perhaps as many as 8.9 percent of the American population may be full-fledged compulsive buyers. (Ridgway, et al., 2008), and the problem is fast becoming a global one, with the burgeoning growth of evermore 'fertile grounds for the growth of compulsive purchasing...catalogues, dedicated television shopping channels, cybershopping, and online trading'.[9]
The terms compulsive shopping, compulsive buying, and compulsive spending are often used interchangeably, but the behaviors they represent are in fact distinctly different (Nataraajan and Goff 1992). One may buy without shopping or certainly shop without buying: of compusive shoppers, 'a minority (30%) described the act of buying itself as giving a high like a drug',[10] irrespective of the goods purchased and their ownership.
'The following CB diagnostic criteria have been proposed: (1) maladaptive preoocupation with or engagement in buying...; (2) preoocupations or the buying lead to significant distress or impairment; and (3) the buying does not occur exclusively during hypomanic or manic episodes'.[11]
'Psychiatrists do believe that the behavior can be triggered by a need to feel special and to combat loneliness, as well as a hope that shopping will somehow change them for the better. But compulsive shopping satisfies none of those needs and therefore the shopper's behavior may escalate'.[12] Similar to other compulsive behaviors, sufferers often experience the highs and lows associated with addiction. 'Like people who have to shoplift, compulsive shoppers are caught in a cycle of anxiety: endorphin-fuelled highs and guilt-ridden lows'.[13] Victims often experience moods of satisfaction when they are in the process of purchasing, which 'gives shopaholics a sort of euphoria, excitement, and "high"' that seems to give their life meaning while letting them forget about their sorrows; but 'there is usually a feeling of disappointment afterwards, followed by guilt'.[14] Once leaving the environment where the purchasing occurred, the feeling of a personal reward may already have gone, so that to compensate, the addicted person goes shopping again in a 'vicious cycle of repetitive impulse buying...just one more thing to achieve a better self-identity'.[15]
'Compulsive shoppers are prone to shop in secret as the condition worsens, debt increases, and relationships with family members and friends become strained'.[16] At the point where bought goods may be hidden or destroyed, because the person concerned feels ashamed of their addiction and tries to conceal it, and 'when shopping habits involve lying about and hiding purchases, the mental, physical, and emotional toll goes up'.[17]
The addicted person gets into a vicious circle that consists of negative emotions like anger and stress, which lead to purchasing something 'as a form of self-medication'.[18] After the buying is over, the person is either regretful or depressed - 'dejected, regretful or guilty after they get home'.[19] In order to cope with the feelings, the addicted person may resort to another purchase.
Shopaholism often has roots in early experience, as 'emotionally deprived persons unconsciously replace what is missing with objects', while at the same time 'voids in one's identity have their roots in failed parent-child interactions'.[20] Children who experience parental neglect often grow up with low self-esteem because throughout much of their childhood they experienced that they were not important as a person, and so 'learned not to turn to people but to substitutes...for comfort',[21] with the result that they used toys or food to compensate for their feelings of loneliness. Adults that have depended on materials for emotional support when they were much younger are more likely to become addicted to shopping because of the ongoing sentiment of deprivation they endured as children - although latest thinking is that 'these explanations of compulsive buying behaviors may apply to some, but certainly not all, persons with CBD'.[22] As with cleptomania, the compulsive purchase 'means in principle to take possession of things which give the strength or the power to fight supposed dangers, especially...of loss of self-esteem or of affection'[23]: the purchase instead of the toy or the food is substituted for affection. Shopaholics are often unable to deal with their everyday problems, especially those that alter their self-esteem, and many of the issues in their lives can be at least temporarily repressed by buying something.
This disorder has been linked to emotional deprivations in childhood, an inability to tolerate negative feelings, the need to fill an internal void, excitement seeking, excessive dependency, approval seeking, perfectionism, general impulsiveness and compulsiveness, and the need to gain control (DeSarbo and Edwards 1996, Faber et al. 1987, Benson, 2000).
Compulsive buying seems to represent a search for self in people whose identity is neither firmly felt nor dependable, as indicated by 'the types of object spurchased, which may address personal and social identity needs'.[24] 'Many shopaholics try to counteract feelings of low self-esteem through the emotional lift and momentary euphoria provided by compulsive shopping. These shoppers, who also experience a higher than normal rate of associated disorders — depression, anxiety, substance abuse, eating disorders, and impulse-control disorders - may be using their symptom to self-medicate'.[25]
Social conditions may also play an important role. 'Given that consumer culture has an increasing impact on our psychological well-being and our sense of identity, compulsive buying has to be considered as a significant modern or postmodern addiction' - one which has 'increased so rapidly over the past two decades'.[26] This is particularly true in 'capitalist societies, dependent on consumption', where ubiquitous marketing and advertising promotes a culture wherein 'high material aspirations drive consumer booms'[27] by encouraging the creation of artificial needs.
Where it is socially acceptable, even normative, for half one's brain to be 'doing an insane, noisy war dance...Money, money, money!! Spend, spend, SPEND!!',[28] CB will always be a perennial possibility. When people are 'getting the same message from the culture in Tennessee or Alaska - live to spend, dress to kill, shop...your way to happiness',[29] there will always be some who are 'unarmoured, without protection against being swallowed whole by some set of ideas that need have no relevance'[30] - and to their own self-harm. Moreover debt, facilitated by credit cards, enable the casual spending beyond one's means - 'laden with glossy carrier bags like a bimbo on a credit card spree'[31] - and some indeed would 'advise "the compulsive shopper" to lock up credit cards'[32] altogether.
What differentiates oniomania from healthy shopping is this compulsive, destructive and chronic nature of the buying: 'shopping, undertaken in the spirit of search, could be a constructive process, one that would promote self-definition, self-expression, creativity, even healing...done to excess, it could pose a dangerous threat'.[33]
To see western societies in the noughties (at least until the credit crunch) as indulging almost without exception in their own form of CB would however call for something Freud specifically disavowed: 'a pathology of cultural communities...of social neuroses'.[34]
The consequences of oniomania, which may persist long after a spree, can be devastating, as 'marriages and long-term relationships...come under severe strain', while at the same time 'compulsive buyers may start to experience difficulties in their work'.[35] Further practical and emotional problems can include ruined credit history, theft or defalcation of money, defaulted loans, general financial trouble and in some cases financial bankruptcy, 'extreme levels of debt, anxiety, and frustration, subjective sense of loss of control, and domestic dissensions'.[36]
The resulting stress can lead to physical health problems and ruined relationships, while some 'may become so ashamed of their problem that they...consider and even commit suicide'.[37]
'Compulsive shopping appears to be the most frequent comorbid [Impulse Control Disorder] in persons with pathological gambling'.[38]