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Copley News Service

By Scott Hilyard

Copley News Service

It stands out on a list of dangerously addictive substances and behaviors.

Drugs. Alcohol. Overeating. Gambling. Sex. Tobacco. Shopping?

"Compulsive shopping can be as destructive a force in a person's life as just about any other addiction," said Angie Moore, manager of the Illinois Center for Addiction Recovery in Peoria, Ill. "If it's out of control, it's a problem."

Like New Year's Eve to an alcoholic, the days between Thanksgiving and Christmas are fraught with temptation for the compulsive shopper. The truly addicted must square off against those temptations every day, to be sure, but in that one-month period when much of the country's attention is riveted on commerce and cash registers, the holiday shopping season can be even more stressful and difficult.

"Shop till you drop" sounds funny and harmless. But for some consumers, it's an open invitation to psychic pain and suffering."

Ruth Engs, a professor of applied health science at Indiana University who has written on the topic, said shopping addiction shares many of the characteristics of a chemical dependency.

"Addictive behaviors, including shopping, have many things in common, including obsession about the activity, denial of the problems it is causing to self and to others, often (hiding) the behavior, depression, blackouts and other characteristics," Engs said.

Lots of people live beyond their means and spend money they don't have in order to continue to maintain a certain lifestyle. That's not the same, necessarily, as out-of-control spending, Moore said. A man who bought 2,000 wrenches might be a compulsive shopper. Former first lady of the Philippines Imelda Marcos' famous thousands of pairs of shoes also might qualify.

"We classify addictive disorders as a failure to control certain behaviors that continue despite enormous consequences in a person's life," Moore said. "It's an emotional issue as well. Clients describe a feeling of euphoria while shopping, or even disassociation followed by regrets and depression when they realize their mistake. Seeking that euphoria to overcome the depression gets them back in the stores and starts the cycle over again."

Moore recommends counseling for people who have tried and failed to solve the problem on their own.

Engs has written a tip sheet for avoiding shopping binges. They include:

- Pay for purchases by cash, check or debit card.

- Make a shopping list and stick to it.

- Destroy all credit cards except one to be used for emergency only.

- Avoid discount warehouses.

- Window shop after stores have closed.

- Avoid phoning in catalog orders, and don't watch TV shopping channels.

- Walk or exercise when the urge to shop comes on.

- If you feel out of control, you probably are. Seek counseling or a support group.

Quantifying the problem is difficult. A 1995 survey by a journalism professor at the University of Minnesota sought to identify compulsive shoppers, according to an article in Forbes magazine. The survey chose 800 randomly selected Illinois adults and asked them to respond to statements such as, "I feel anxious on days when I don't go shopping." Of the 300 respondents, between 1 percent and 2 percent were considered to have a compulsive shopping disorder.

The American Psychiatric Association Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders describes the essential feature of impulse control disorders as "the failure to resist an impulse, drive or temptation to perform an act that is harmful to the person or others. (The individual) typically feels an increasing sense of tension or arousal before committing the act, and then experiences pleasure, gratification or relief at the time of committing the act."

The problem occurs in varying levels of severity, Moore said, and that would dictate the appropriate form of treatment.

"If a person is asking questions about their own spending behavior, then there's a good chance there is a problem," said Moore, who believes an Alcoholics Anonymous-like 12-step program is the most effective treatment for severe cases. "Someone might require in-patient treatment, individual counseling, family therapy. We would work out an individual's plan following an in-depth assessment of the problem."

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