Call of the wild
You’re at the mall, heavily armed with credit cards and cash, what do you do? SHOP TILL YOU DROP! But then you realize you don’t really need those new pair of Jimmy Choo's, that Gucci jacket and the matching Cavalli jeans. Why? Because you’re only making $45,000 a year! So you justify the facts. You weigh the pros and cons, and after 10 minutes of pondering, you end up bringing $7,500 worth of items home. It happened to most of us but we continue to ignore it, we continue to vindicate every dollar we spend. We keep telling ourselves that we need it, and we need it now! I mean, isn’t it much easier to just ignore and worry about it later? It seems to work all the time, right?

Research
Researchers call it “a consuming passion”, but most of us just call it “shopaholic” or “compulsive shopping”. I did not quite agree with the fancy term “consuming passion” since most hardcore shopaholics do not consume most of the items. They may have a passion to acquire but rarely to consume. It is estimated that as many as 17 million Americans have a problem controlling their urges to shop. And in the interim, it affects their job, their family and ofcourse, their finances. It is not implied that 17 million people are compulsive buyers; they just cannot seem to restrain themselves from overspending. Some of which feels guilty afterwards and may even go back to the store and return the items. So, don’t tell yourself you have a compulsive shopping disorder just because you overspent on a pair of shoes. We may become “impulsive shoppers” once and a while, but when credit card companies, or collection agencies starts knocking on your door, that’s when you have a problem! Bottomline, the difference between “impulsive shopping” from that of “compulsive shopping”, the latter is excessive and repetitive.

Awareness
Are these overspending consumers aware of their actions? I believe so! It is a cognitive behavior that is mostly satisfying to these people - even to the ones who have excess money! We always seem to yearn for instant gratification -- the pleasure principle. Moreover, to say that shopping is a malady for the privileged is laughable! I’ve known people who are earning minimum wage and would acquire things that are beyond their means. So why do these people act on their impulses when it comes to shopping? It is a very pleasurable impulse! It’s like having an orgasm without actually touching yourself ? Ok, so it’s not that great. However, for some people, it fills up some sort of void. It makes them happy; it keeps them complete. It’s like a drug. However, just like any drug, you have to deal with the after-effects – guilt, regression, anger, sadness and in this case more debt. So because you’re feeling down and out, you try cheering yourself up by spending more money! That damn circle!

Conclusion
What are the the determining factors for shopping compulsive disorder? Well, do you buy things you want, whether or not you can afford them at the time? Do you buy things to cheer yourself up? Do you get anxiety attacks when you have to say no to yourself or put off something you want? Are you perpetually in deep debt because of overspending? Does shopping give you a temporary sense of euphoria? If you answer “yes” to all of these questions, then you may have a compulsive shopping disorder. You do have to admit, this is one disorder that is perfectly acceptable in our society. It happened to you, it happened to me and apparently 17 million other people, and yet it continues to happen everyday.