Compulsive Shopping: Boredom or Addiction?

Many of us love to shop, but when is it shopping for necessity and when is it a compulsive, addictive behavior? Retail therapy may be a mood booster but it sure clutters up the closet!

Hey, I am a pretty square peg. I pay my taxes (most years), don't drink (OK on occasion), never smoke (maybe a Cubano once in a blue) and am a hard working independent woman. I don't have any vices, well... uh... maybe tanning which is considered heliotherapy and a mood booster, so that doesn't count, right?  But my fetish for a good pair of shoes, a new bag, sexy shades and new threads are my downfall! Why am I a victim to compulsive shopping?!

Well just like recovering addicts, the serotonin levels definitely get a good boost when you find a good deal or a sexy pair of stilletos you've been wanting. And the enablers in this scenario are usually a good girlfriend or gay husband who's addictive behavior is just as bad or worse as your own.  Shopping is an addiction especially if you've replaced another addictive behavior like eating chocolate with this behavior. It gets you out of that funk and cures the moody blues.

How to kick this compulsive habit? Stay out of the malls & stores completely? This is never an easy thing to do. Return the items you've bought insistently? This is a temporary solution to the problem until the next wave of shopping begins. Perhaps therapy is the answer.  I have experienced the above and am seriously considering the latter, especially since the room I made in my closet from the five large bags I donated has already been filled up by new items!

Although that's not Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda (from Sex in the City) featured in the photo, imagine its you and your three best girlfriends on a shopping trip, accumulating more inventory for your collection of shoes, bags, shades, clothes and accessories.  Some items still hangin' in the back of the closet with the tags on, just waitin' to be worn! Be patient lil' children, mommy didn't forget about you! Carrie too had a major shoe fetish!

However it is that you control your compulsive behaviors, congratulations to you and keep up the good work! Do they make a patch for shopping?

P.S. This is dedicated to my gusband, Joey.