Have you ever been called a “shopping addict”? If so, know that shopping addiction is very serious: it could even be a question of mental illness!
Explanations. The study appeared at the end of October 2019 in the scientific journal Comprehensive Psychiatry : German researchers theorize there the “buying-shopping disorder” (BSD), a psychiatric disorder which is similar to an addiction to shopping on the Internet.
The researchers (under the direction of psychotherapist Astrid Müller) assembled a group of 122 volunteers aged 20 to 68 – of them 76% were women. The participants answered a questionnaire designed to assess their dependence on online shopping sites.
Shopping addiction: a strategy to compensate for negative emotions …
Results ? 34% of the volunteers suffered from a BSD, that is to say an addiction to shopping on the internet. The researchers note that the younger participants were more likely to have this addiction.
On the other hand, the researchers did not establish any link between the probability of suffering from a BSD and the sex, the marital status or the social level of the participants. In short: single women are not the only ones concerned … contrary to prejudices!
What are the symptoms ? For German researchers, the “buying-shopping disorder” is characterized by several symptoms: anxiety and depressive episodes, a compelling and irresistible need to buy products on the internet, or a feeling of searching for one’s own identity. .
Scientists hypothesize that BSD is a strategy allowing the patient to compensate for his negative emotions (worry, sadness …) and to conform to an ideal (in particular maintained by advertising). They estimate that this psychiatric disorder concerns 5% of the population … Worrisome!
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