RAIN sweeps through the concrete canyons of midtown Manhattan in cold, grey
sheets, forcing people to rush into doorways or the warmth of nearby shops. This
is one of the world鈥檚 great temples to shopping鈥攇litzy Fifth Avenue. Even
in the most inclement season, the faithful are out in vast numbers for the
January sales, spending huge amounts on things they don鈥檛 necessarily like and
probably don鈥檛 need.
But for some, this is more than an annual orgy of spending. Among the throng
stalking the glass and chrome counters are compulsive buyers鈥攑eople unable
to fight the urge to go on shopping until they鈥檝e emptied their bank accounts
and filled their wardrobes to overflowing.
Linda, my companion, used to be one of their number. The last thing you鈥檇
want to do is send an alcoholic to a beer festival, and for most shopaholics,
the January sales represent a similar ordeal. But these days Linda has her
shopping habit under control, and she is here to talk to me about the allure of
shopping.
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Compulsive shopping is nothing new. Nearly a hundred years ago, the German
psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin described 鈥渂uying maniacs鈥� who, despite a 鈥済ood
school intelligence鈥� couldn鈥檛 resist irrational purchasing. Over the past
fifteen years, however, there has been a surge of interest in the problem.
Research, mainly from the US, suggests that between 1.5 and 2 per cent of the
population are out-of-control shoppers. Most are women.
Interested scientists say excessive compulsive shopping has all the hallmarks
of a psychiatric disorder, but opinion is still divided about where precisely it
fits in. Some, including psychiatrist Donald Black of the University of Iowa,
believe it has all the hallmarks of an obsessive-compulsive disorder. Others,
such as University of London psychologist Kevin Gournay and his colleagues, who
have just completed the first major investigation of excessive shopping in
Britain, believe it is a form of addiction. 鈥淭he obsessive type are a minority,鈥�
says Gournay.
Psychiatrist Susan McElroy from Cincinnati University has devised diagnostic
criteria for the disorder. Compulsive shoppers, she says, experience frequent
impulses to buy that are irresistible, intrusive and senseless. They need to buy
more than they can afford, more than they need, and spend longer doing it than
they intended. And their shopping urges cause serious distress, and interfere
with their work, finances and social lives. The excitement of purchasing is
frequently followed by feelings of remorse, which creates problems in their
relationships and may make underlying depression worse.
Linda is an unexceptional, reasonably attractive woman, well dressed and in
her mid-forties. She admits to having suffered from depression in the past but
says she wasn鈥檛 particularly depressed when she used to go on spending sprees.
She hints that problems with relationships as well as her finances arose from
her excessive spending rather than the other way round.
In swanky Saks Fifth Avenue, Linda and I join the crowds swerving to avoid
jets of the new Donna Karan perfume, called appropriately, Chaos. The desperate
store assistants are at the stage of spraying before asking. But Linda isn鈥檛
tempted. 鈥淚f I was really in the mood, it鈥檇 be make-up, jewellery and handbags.鈥�
On bad days she admits to having spent $500 just on cosmetics. 鈥淚 love
the make-up counters,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 love getting the classy stuff鈥擟linique
and Lanc么me and Christian Dior. I don鈥檛 need it. I鈥檝e already got loads.
But there鈥檚 something about it, the packaging when you first buy it.鈥�
Linda found that counselling with a self-help group for shopaholics, together
with dire financial straits, curbed her problem. The counselling sessions allow
people to recognise why they shop to excess, giving them a chance to change
their behaviour. But such groups cannot help everybody. There are those who are
simply unable to fathom why they suffer from the compulsion to shop. Many
psychiatrists are equally baffled.
According to Black, there are a few clues though. In a review in the
Journal of Clinical Psychiatry (vol 57, p 50), he says shoppers often claim
their experiences are enhanced by the colour, sounds, lighting and smells of
stores and that some shoppers describe the experience as sexually exciting. At
the other end of the spectrum, Paul Wachtel, a psychologist at the University of
New York believes it is impossible to ignore the malign influence of today鈥檚
materialist society. 鈥淭he system affects people鈥檚 psychology,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚
geared towards discontentment. We can never have enough.鈥� He notes there are not
many shopaholics in downtown Kigali.
Striking similarities
If you look at medical records, says Black, you find that compulsive shoppers
are more likely to have a history of substance misuse or eating disorders than
the rest of the population. They are also more likely to have a history of
depression. Black has had some success treating compulsive shoppers with the
drug fluvoxamine (This Week, 12 November 1994, p 7). His rationale stems from
the belief, shared with psychiatrists like McElroy, that the similarities
between compulsive shopping and obsessive-compulsive disorder are so striking
that patients may benefit from antiobsessional drugs such as fluvoxamine. He is
now moving onto a bigger placebo-controlled trial which he hopes will gauge just
how effective the drug is.
Black鈥檚 treatment probably works partly by relieving depression. Fluvoxamine,
after all, is also an antidepressant. In their study of 50 鈥渃ompulsive
shoppers鈥�, published in the December issue of Psychology and Marketing,
Gournay and colleagues from the universities of Oxford and Bradford, found that
63 per cent of people with a shopping problem went on a spree when they felt
depressed. 鈥淒epression is clearly an important background factor,鈥� says Gournay.
Nevertheless, he would feel unhappy about all problem shoppers being given
antidepressants automatically. 鈥淵ou need to be selective in your use,鈥� he
says.
All-encompassing explanations, whether sociological or scientific rarely
account for all the complexities of addictive or compulsive behaviours. But one
or two simple explanations are very seductive. Gournay, for example, found that
in about 1 in 10 cases, addicts shopped to get revenge on their partners. Julie,
36, was one of his subjects. She recalls the time when her husband left her at
home to bring up their three young children. 鈥淗e would work on Saturdays and
Sundays. I would resent that so I would think right, if he鈥檚 working then I鈥檓
spending. Now we鈥檙e in a vicious circle鈥擨鈥檓 spending and he鈥檚 working. He
says how can I cut down on work, I have to pay the bills.鈥�
Equally interesting is Gournay鈥檚 finding that about 1 in 10 shopping addicts
buy furiously to create meaning in their lives. He calls them 鈥渆xistential
addicts鈥�. One such is 58-year-old Mary. She regards her phases of buying as
鈥渕issions鈥�. 鈥淚鈥檓 always looking. I love beautiful things but it鈥檚 never just one
item. Having bought a skirt, I have to go and search for things to go with
it鈥攅verything matching. I suppose it鈥檚 like painting a picture, isn鈥檛 it?
Building everything up until you鈥檝e got the final picture.鈥� But, of course, the
picture鈥檚 never finished.
It鈥檚 also curious that the vast majority of people affected are women. Why
should this be? Gournay believes you don鈥檛 need to look much beyond the social
setup which sees women shop more than men. They are also deluged with
advertising for clothes, cosmetics and perfumes, he says. However, one L.
Lawrence has advanced a more bizarre explanation in the American Journal of
Psychoanalysis, (vol 50, p 76). 鈥淐ompulsive female shopping could be a
deferred reaction to anxiety over castration, the first cognisance of the lack
of a penis,鈥� wrote Lawrence. So I put it to Linda: 鈥淎re you suffering from penis
别苍惫测?鈥�
鈥淲hat?鈥� Pause. 鈥淣o way.鈥� She laughs. 鈥淚 just want some of that Chanel Rouge
Noir nail polish.鈥�