Pathological buyer disorder

• April 24, 2024

The addiction to purchases It is increasing alarmingly in many countries of the world, especially in Europe and the United States. However, in emerging countries such as Mexico, Brazil, Chile or Argentina, things are no less worrisome.

The impact of this addiction is such that in the next edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Illnesses of the United States (a guide for all psychiatrists in the world), compulsive shopping will be included in its list of psychiatric disorders. In the United States, this habit already punishes the pockets of 6% of women and 5.5% of men, this means that the pathology is not more common in them, but it is also almost as frequent among men.

In Spain, a recent report prepared by the Consumers Union of Spain (UCE) states that 1 in 3 people buy more than they need.

What happens in the mind of a compulsive buyer

For all those who suffer from this disorder, shopping becomes a vital need, unstoppable in which they leave all their time and money. In return they lose their economy, their personal and family relationships and, above all, their self-esteem. In the United States, a group of American researchers led by Lorrin Koran of Stanford University has conducted research that clarifies the incidence and characteristics of this impulse disorder.

"Our first evidence suggests that those affected by the compulsive behavior of addiction to purchases tend to also have high levels of depression and anxiety when compared to those who do not feel this urge to spend, "the study highlights. They recognize that the urgency and need to buy compulsively is also often associated with other diseases such as the abuse of toxic substances or eating disorders.

Those affected behave like victims of other disorders that affect the impulse control, since they hide their problem and lie when they affirm that their infinite acquisitions are for gifts, when they really keep the purchased.

How is shopping addiction treated?

One of the aspects that the authors of the research have wanted to reflect is the special care that specialists must pay when treating this disorder. "Besides that each case must be evaluated individually, many of them ignore during the therapy other aspects that surround the patient and that are essential for recovery as is the case of the family environment, "they say.

The pressure of psychiatrists and psychologists and the evidence that the disease is real and its mechanisms are similar to those of others already known (such as gambling), has served to finally include it as a pathology in the next edition of the Manual of Diagnosis and Statistics of Mental Illness.

Video Medicine: How Buyer's Remorse Can Affect Borderline Personality Disorder (April 2024).