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Are you addicted to shopping?
About 6% of the population is defined as "at risk"
November is known as International Shopping Month, but for some of us it is like entering a bar for an alcoholic: the danger of not being tempted is growing.
Clinical shopping addiction is a familiar phenomenon, but it intensified during the Corona period, with online shopping.
How is it identified and what to do?
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I have Seville
Wednesday, 03 November 2021, 11:00 Updated: 12:42
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2% of the population are defined as "shopping addicts", although it is very difficult to know where to draw the line, especially in a society characterized by increasing consumption, but it is estimated that this is the number of people who buy more and more not to consume or use and not just for pleasure. But to satisfy deeper needs like lack of self-esteem, mental restlessness and more.
The Israeli Addiction Center
estimates that the potential harm of addiction is about 6% of the population - and it is quite possible that it is on the rise, especially due to the long closures during the Corona days, which familiarized the world of online shopping to wider sections of the population.
The fact that for many - for whom the Corona has forced not only social distance but also social isolation - online shopping has become a kind of connection, in addition to the centrality that November shopping days occupy in the lives of many of us, increases the danger.
It is important to note that these international shopping holidays do not only belong to those who suffer from addictions.
Most Israelis search online or at local stores for the special discounts with the promise that they are one-time, ones that should not be missed.
Of course, online shopping has in recent years allowed Israelis to purchase new brands that are not regularly sold in the country and in many cases also save prices.
Due to the temptation, many consumers tend to buy more these days, sometimes even items that are not really needed by them, but that still does not make them "addicted to shopping".
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To the full article
Due to the temptation of sales days, many consumers tend to buy more than usual (Photo: ShutterStock)
"It is important to separate shopping as normal behavior within the norm and shopping addiction, which is a severe disorder that causes great suffering to those who suffer from it," explains
Amir Gornitzky, a clinical criminologist, therapist and instructor at the Israeli Center for Addictions.
"November, which is full of hot promotions, advertisements, and encouragement for shopping, is definitely a trigger for a person who is dealing with a shopping addiction and is having a hard time maintaining himself," he adds.
Shopping is a positive action even when it is not essential and is usually enjoyable. It is also an action that often comforts and helps us feel better about ourselves. In most cases this is a normative action, but for quite a few people, shopping is an action that serves a much deeper need than pleasure or comfort. For them shopping and the obsessive preoccupation surrounding shopping is a function which is ultimately meant to alleviate the pain, suffering or discomfort they face.
If you will, for shopping addicts, the November shopping holidays are what entering a liquor bar does for the alcoholic: all around other people consume and enjoy without getting hurt, which can make it difficult for self-control to fight addiction.
"Shopping addiction is a serious disorder that causes a great deal of suffering to those who suffer from it" (Photo: ShutterStock)
What is shopping addiction?
In recent years there has been a trend of recognizing and understanding that there are different behaviors with obsessive-compulsive potential.
Shopping addiction can have physiological characteristics similar to addictions caused by the use of substances such as drugs, prescription drugs, nicotine, alcohol and more. As a result, in recent years more and more institutional bodies are recognizing shopping addiction as a behavioral addiction.
Shopping addiction, (similar to exercise addiction) can make it difficult to diagnose and treat.
It is a routine and even desirable behavior, but when it is performed excessively, harmful and taking control it may be an addictive pattern.
In the United States, professionals already recognize shopping addiction as a behavioral addiction.
Shopping addiction is a difficult phenomenon to diagnose (Photo: ShutterStock)
How to identify shopping addiction?
There is a difficulty in identifying a shopping addiction however there are a number of signs that can help: shopping in response to emotional distress, shopping as proof of financial ability and extravagance, shopping out of a bulge involving a vicious cycle of shopping and returning to the store, tendency to collect and need to complete series, feeling anxious or guilty. And excessive spending far beyond economic capacity.
Identifying a person dealing with behavioral addiction such as shopping addiction is challenging, as it is ultimately normative behavior, with no external cues and should be said even popular in the culture in which we live so there is a question of boundaries, when does it become an addiction that needs treatment?
The distinction is based on three main factors:
Loss of control
: When the person loses control over the quantities or the occupation surrounding the purchase. Promises himself to reduce or stop but fails.
Constantly raising the threshold of excitement
: When a person raises the volume of his purchases and the occupation and fantasy around him to get the same thrill.
"Crisis"
: When a person for some reason does not realize the purchase and he experiences withdrawal symptoms such as restlessness, anxiety, etc.
These 3 factors, especially when they cause concomitant damages like neglect of other areas of life, are definitely indicative of a use disorder and up to complete addiction.
Addiction sufferers go on a shopping spree in response to emotional distress (Photo: ShutterStock)
Who is at risk of developing a shopping addiction?
According to various studies, an annoying shopping disorder affects about 2% of the population and it is estimated that another 6% are at high risk of developing such a disorder.
The disorder is mainly associated with women, who are considered more vulnerable to the risk of addiction.
Also, women are more likely to buy clothing, footwear, etc., while men are more likely to purchase electrical appliances, technology, gadgets, and cars.
How do you treat a positive underlying addiction?
During the Corona period, exposure to shopping addiction intensified.
Closures, economic anxieties, loneliness, and uncertainty have led to an increase in behaviors that are rooted in a function of calming and regulating, in this case, shopping.
In this sense, the availability of digital media has also contributed to the increase in the dimensions of the phenomenon.
Treating a person with behavioral addiction will often be an attempt to minimize harm, ie learning reasonable shopping as part of a healthy lifestyle rather than eliminating the phenomenon (such as in the case of drug, alcohol, gambling, etc.) that is fundamentally positive.
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