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Posted August 16, 2022 Reviewed by Michelle Quirk
The 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11; World Health Organization [WHO], 2018) includes an “other specified” residual category among impulse-control disorders. One example of an other specified impulse-control disorder is “compulsive buying-shopping disorder” (CBSD; WHO; 2018).
Although not included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013), a reference to excessive acquisition (most frequently manifested in excessive buying) exists in the criteria for hoarding disorder. In addition, the authors of the DSM-5 noted that kleptomania (impulses to steal) may be associated with compulsive buying (APA, 2013).
Thus, it is clear that esteemed professional disorder classifications and manuals acknowledge the existence of compulsive buying, or compulsive buying/shopping behaviors, over which an individual loses control, continues despite negative consequences, and craves when not engaging in.
Although the notion of compulsive buying-shopping has existed since the early 1900s with the introduction of the term oniomania into psychiatric nomenclature, today’s technological advances have changed the landscape of compulsive buying. Indeed, the Internet (and prevalence of smartphones) has made buying/shopping more convenient, accessible, anonymous, and barrier-free than ever before.
For individuals prone to compulsive behaviors or those with risk factors making them more susceptible to CBSD, the advances of the Internet may exacerbate the disorder and its negative consequences. There are several features of online shopping that make it particularly rewarding, which, for a small subset of Internet shoppers, can lead to CBSD.
Rather than planned, purposeful shopping behaviors, online shopping increases engagement with shoppers’ reward circuitry in intentional ways that can lead to more compulsive buying as a means of regulating one’s emotional state. Indeed, using buying/shopping as a way to regulate internal states is one of the proposed diagnostic criteria for CBSD, along with persistent dysfunctional buying/shopping behaviors, irresistible urges to buy/shop, loss of control, excessive purchases (without using the items), negative reactions to the cessation of buying/shopping, and continued engagement despite negative consequences (Muller et al., 2021).
Ecommerce offers an easily accessible, anonymous, convenient opportunity for “retail therapy” and is not problematic for the majority of shoppers. However, for those with risk factors and vulnerabilities for compulsivity, online shopping may serve to heighten the prevalence and negative consequences of CBSD.
References
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). American Psychiatric Association.
Ceravolo, M. G., Fabri, M., Fattobene, L., Polonara, G., & Raggetti, G. (2019). Cash, card or smartphone: The neural correlates of payment methods. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 13, 1188.
Chandra, S., Verma, S., Lim, W. M., Kumar, S., & Donthu, N. (2022). Personalization in personalized marketing: Trends and ways. Psychology & Marketing, 39, 152-1562.
Mason, M. C., Zamparo, G., Marini, A., & Ameen, N. (2022). Glued to your phone? Generation Z’s smartphone addiction and online compulsive buying. Computers in Human Behavior, 136, 107404.
Muller, A., Laskowski, N. M., Trotzke, P., Ali, K., Fassnacht, D. B., de Zwaan, M., Brand, M., Hader, M, & Kyrios, M. (2021). Proposed diagnostic criteria for compulsive buying-shopping disorder: A Delphi expert consensus study. Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 10, 208-222.
World Health Organization. (2018). International statistical classification of diseases and related health problems (11th Revision). https://icd.who.int/browse11/l-m/en
Amanda Giordano, Ph.D., LPC, is an associate professor at the University of Georgia and the author of A Clinical Guide to Treating Behavioral Addictions.
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We all harbor secrets. Some are big and bad; some are small and trivial. Researchers have parsed which truths to tell and which not to.