Shopping Until You're Off Your Trolley?
The Age
Saturday October 21, 2006
EASILY available credit, the internet and 24-hour shopping channels may be turning millions of us into shopaholics. And now the American Psychiatric Association is debating whether chronic binge-buying should be categorised as a mental disorder.
As many as 10 million Americans could be afflicted with the disease, a study published in this month's American Journal of Psychiatry has revealed. Moving beyond extravagant or impulse buying, sufferers of oniomania plunge themselves into debt, risking careers and families in the quest to feed their addiction. US experts are wondering whether to include chronic consumerism within the pages of the psychiatrists' bible, but the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists is staying out of the argument. "The college does not have a position on this," was the response yesterday. Professor Michael Kyrios, director of Swinburne University's SwinPSYCHE research group, has completed two studies into oniomania but he is sceptical about moves to define the condition as a disorder.People with borderline personality problems and bipolar disorder often overspend, Professor Kyrios said. Kleptomaniacs, substance abusers and those with other impulse-control disorders also have symptoms that come close to those associated with compulsive buying. "If you take the definition of a mental disorder as a psychological problem which interferes with a person's life and is distressing to the person, then, yes, it may be a mental disorder," he said. "But, like gambling, there is an initial 'high' in the person when they go on a spending spree. It is behaviour that occurs on a continuum. You could say there is a little bit (of oniomania) in all of us." Australian research has shown that between 80 to 90 per cent of sufferers are female. Men work through their anxieties in other ways, such as substance abuse and gambling. Invariably, like gambling, the compulsion hits those who can least afford it. Katherine Lane, principal solicitor with the NSW Consumer Credit Legal Centre, said irresponsible lending by banks was feeding the problem. "I'm seeing more people coming through the door admitting they have a spending problem," she said. "They're spending on stuff they don't need, getting into impossible debt, and the banks keep offering to extend their credit limit."Dr Clive Hamilton, social commentator and co-author of the book Affluenza, said compulsive shopping was on the rise. "Increasingly in our society, people create their sense of self through shopping," he said. "It's a powerful psychological force which can become obsessive."
© 2006 The Age