Shopping can be a fun way to spend time with friends, prepare for the future, and keep up with the latest trends of the season; but when does liking to shop turn into having to shop to deal with stress in life? Some people find themselves enjoying shopping so much they start to use the enjoyment of shopping to cope with stress, sadness, and disappointments in other areas of life.  Some clues that you or someone you care about is starting to go down the path of developing a shopping addiction is if they are putting relationships or responsibilities off to go shop, the frequency of shopping continues to increase, they are having financial problems due to their shopping but continue to shop, or they frequently use shopping to reduce stress. Shopping can start to become the persons high that they want to return to time and time again just like with a drug or any other addiction. I am reminded of the movie “Confessions of a Shopaholic” and how Rebecca talked about the world feeling right again when she shopped. She used shopping to get a high and she was not able to go very long without shopping again to get the same high. She maxed out her credit cards and it greatly affected many areas of her life but she still was not able to stop shopping. Shopping can be a fun way to spend an afternoon but it is important to know when your shopping or someone else’s shopping is getting out of hand.

Jennifer Wilmoth, LAMFT
JWilmoth@ GROWCounseling.com