Popping out for some retail therapy in the lunch-hour is a source of comfort for many stressed and depressed workers.
But those who take it too far and become real shopaholics have a serious psychiatric disorder, experts said yesterday.
Easy credit, advertising and the glamorous designer clothes featured on TV contribute to lavish spending, they claimed.
Now compulsive shopping has finally been recognised as a unique condition and listed alongside addictions to gambling and alcohol in the official reference book for US psychiatrists, The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
The inclusion is likely to be mirrored in its European equivalent.
Researchers believe the disorder affects about one in ten people, with women nine times as likely as men to be hooked.
The addiction is high profile — society girl Tara Palmer-Tompkinson famously sought help after spending £20,000 in a designer clothes spree.
'You can't open your eyes, you can't eat your cereal without being persuaded to buy something,' said Dr Adrienne Baker, senior psychotherapy lecturer at Regent's College in London.
'It is usually written off as affecting only bored, affluent, middle-aged women but it affects people from any background.'
Robert Lefever, director of the Promis recovery centre in Kent, has treated the condition with group therapy for 17 years.
One former patient was dubbed Anne of the 1,000 T-shirts. 'She didn't even unwrap the T-shirts, just piled them up to the point where she could not even get into her bedroom,' he added. 'But she's doing fine now.'
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment