When Shopping Becomes a Problem
It`s impossible to imagine our modern life without shopping. For some people shopping is a chore, something necessary but tedious – like house work. For others, shopping is funny and relaxing, it`s a release from the world of work. But there are some people for whom shopping can be as dangerous as consuming too much alcohol or abusing drugs.
Who are “shopaholics”? A word “shopaholic” appeared not long ago but it spread all over the world in no time. So, who these people are? Is there something unusual about them? We don`t know exactly. The fact we know for sure is that for “shopaholics” a trip to a department store can become a way of fueling an addiction. How does it happen and why? Psychologists believe that the “shopaholic” views spending money as a form of escapism and a means of achieving happiness. The constant need to buy new things starts interfering with a person`s life very quickly. The problem is that people who become addicted to the excitement of shopping think that buying something new will make their lives better and happier.
Shop your way to happiness.
People become “shopaholics”, because their lives are emotionally empty. It is often a sign of chronic depression. People fill their lives with things because they cannot face their own unhappiness. Gradually shopping becomes a form of therapy for them. Soon spending can get out of control. People find themselves in a vicious circle and the debts pile on. New things lose their attraction and the desire to shop and spend money starts again. “Shopaholics” end up either with huge overdrafts or in court, because they don`t realize that they have a problem.
The only way out.
The professionals who deal with “shopaholics” have accused banks of giving out credit cards. The doctors even tried to persuade governments to introduce controls over credit companies and banks. But the solution to this problem doesn`t lie in the financial area, it lies with “shopaholics” themselves. The only practical approach is in getting to the root of the shopaholic`s depression and in helping him to face his problem and to cope with it.