Health warning: shopping is addictive
By Theron Bowers
Tuesday, 05 December 2006
Help is near for holiday shopaholics from American psychiatrists.
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November's Black Friday for American retailers will soon turn into January's Red Friday for many shoppers. After lashing out on the Friday after Thanksgiving, the first day of a national holiday spending spree, shopaholics will find lumps of coal in their mailboxes when the credit card statements arrive. But that's OK: they're not spendthrifts, they're sick.
Welcome to Compulsive Buying Syndrome.
But the worst consequence of turning spending into a psychiatric disorder is a shift from personal responsibility to finding a medical cure and posing as a victim. What will Compulsive Buying Disorder mean for retailers and credit card companies if it becomes an entry in the Diagnostic Statistical Manual? Once a personal problem becomes a public health problem, government intervention will surely be required. After all, children must be protected from themselves. Big Retail could become the next Big Tobacco. Commercials might come with health disclaimers. Perhaps we will see the CEOs of Wal-Mart, Target and Macy’s in front of a congressional panel. What will they say when asked, "Is shopping addictive?"
So is shopping an illness?
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