Treatment for Shopping Addiction
Shopping addiction is a disorder that our culture has largely
seen fit to smile upon. Feelings of emptiness, low self-esteem,
insecurity, boredom, loneliness--or the pursuit of ideal
image--can lead people to shopping addictions. But managing
these feelings and mood states by becoming a shopaholic can have
extremely serious consequences and significantly erode quality
of life.
As with most other addictive, impulse control, or compulsive
disorders, there is a wide range of effective treatment options
for shopaholics: drug treatment, individual, group, and couples
therapy, counseling for compulsive buying, Debtors Anonymous,
and Simplicity Circles can all be effective. The choice of what
form or forms of treatment to use with a particular person is a
complex decision that goes well beyond the scope of this
overview. For further information about making treatment
decisions, consult my own writings, the For Therapists page of
my website, www.stoppingovershopping.com, as well as the
bibliographic references at the end of each chapter in I Shop,
Therefore I Am: Compulsive Buying and the Search for Self.
Psychotropic medications, including antidepressants, mood
stabilizers, and opiod antagonists have been used to treat
shopping addictions, with varying effectiveness. For further
details, see McElroy and Goldsmith-Chapter 10 of I Shop,
Therefore I Am-and my own treatment chapter in Addiction: A
Practical Handbook.
Individual therapy for shopaholics runs the gamut from
traditional psychodynamic psychotherapy, with an almost
exclusive focus on the underlying dynamics within a historical
context, to a very strict focus on the here and now of the
problem, with little attention to underlying dynamics. Most
people suffering from a shopping addiction need the addition of
other specific tools for changing the behavior, including a
shopping diary and a spending plan. Some people will need to
participate in Debtors Anonymous or group therapy for
shopaholics, and/or have counseling specifically geared toward
shopping addiction. This is particularly likely if the
individual therapist has little experience with the tools of
shopping addiction counseling. For further information about
individual treatment, please consult the Psychodynamic Theory
and Technique section of I Shop, Therefore I Am, or see the
individual therapy section of my previously cited treatment
chapter.
Group therapy for shopaholics has been reported since the late
1980s. At least five different forms of group therapy have been
utilized with this population. My own group treatment model is
an amalgam of three things: useful techniques from existing
models; didactic and experiential material used in group
treatment for Borderline Personality Disorder; and material I've
found effective in my clinical practice. For information about
the Stopping Overshopping group treatment program, please visit
the website, www.stoppingovershopping.com.
Couples therapy for shopaholics is an extremely important
treatment modality, because couples act as a financial unit and
generally blend income as well as spending. Money issues are an
intrinsic part of marriage and are often a source of intense and
pervasive friction that can seep into other aspects of the
relationship. Couples therapy is indicated when the shopping
addiction can't be dealt with adequately on an individual basis.
Olivia Mellan, the country's foremost expert in this area,
discusses the treatment in Chapter 15, "Overcoming Overspending
in Couples", of I Shop, Therefore I Am.
Counseling for shopaholics targets the specific problem and
creates an action plan to stop the behavior. Targeted counseling
for this problem alters the negative actions of compulsive
shopping and concurrently works toward healing the underlying
emotions, although less emphasis is placed on exploring the
emotional significance of the shopping addiction than in
traditional individual psychotherapy. The major premise of
counseling for shopaholics is the idea that insight alone will
not stop the behavior. All stages in the shopping addiction
cycle must be identified: the triggers, the feelings, the
dysfunctional thoughts, the behaviors, the consequences of the
behavior, as well as the meaning of the shopping addiction.
Creating and using a spending plan is a cornerstone of shopping
addiction counseling. More information about shopping addiction
counseling can be found in Karen McCall's chapter "Financial
Recovery Counseling", as well as in my treatment chapter in I
Shop, Therefore I Am.
Debtors Anonymous (D.A.) can be a powerful tool in recovery from
shopping addiction, especially for shopaholics who have problems
with debt. D.A. sees debting as a disease similar to alcoholism
that can be cured with solvency, which means abstinence from any
new debt. Since individuals are trying to control their lives
with addictive debting, D.A. offers a regimented program of
surrender and recovery, a program with a spiritual emphasis.
Individual debtors work through the steps of the program with a
sponsor, a more experienced member of the group, using newly
acquired tools in conjunction with the steps. How Debtors
Anonymous and psychotherapy can work synergistically is the
topic of Kellen and Levine's chapter of I Shop, Therefore I Am.
Simplicity circles can be a helpful support to shopaholics,
although the shopping addiction problems are not dealt with as
directly as in the various therapies for shopping addiction or
Debtors Anonymous. What simplicity circles do have to offer is a
forum: a place to gather with others to discuss personal
transformation and the satisfactions of living a simpler life.
The caring atmosphere and the discussion of how to create a more
fulfilling life is a healthy way to meet some of the principal
needs that a shopaholic seeks to meet in shopping. In Chapter 20
of my book, Cecile Andrews discusses simplicity circles and the
shopaholic.
Shopping addiction treatment is still very much in a formative
stage. Society, advertising, and the media all conspire against
the cultivation of true wealth, which cannot be quantified in a
financial balance sheet but must instead be felt and sensed:
self-esteem, family, friendships, a sense of community, health,
education, creative pursuits, communion with nature. It is inner
poverty, both emotional and spiritual, that is at the core of
most shopping addictions. The acquisition of truth wealth is
crucial to recovery.