Any behavior that exceeds the norms and turns into addiction indicates the presence of severe underlying emotional problems that need to be dealt with.

Even the things that appear to be healthy such as sports addiction, are usually an indication of a deeper problem that the person is trying to fix through this addiction.

For example, a person addicted to working out might be suffering from an obsession with his looks and might be trying to maintain a perfect body shape to cure his poor mental self-image.

Shopping addiction is like any other kind of addiction in which the person becomes addicted to a substance or a habit to fix his emotions.

Why are there shopping addicts?

Some people are shopping addicts because they have a poor self-image. They keep buying new clothes all the time to improve their looks and to look perfect.

Other people use shopping to lift their moods when they can’t deal with their bad moods. It’s the same as emotional eating, where people eat because they feel bad, stressed, or depressed and not because they are Hungary.

Emotional eating results in weight gain, while emotional shopping results in money loss!!

Some people use shopping as a way to exert control over their lives. Some of those who feel that they have no control over their lives become shopping addicts because the act of buying what they want makes them feel more in control.

This is similar to self-harm, where those who harm themselves and cut their skins feel more in control since they are the ones who control the place of the pain and its severity.

Shopping addiction treatment

Like any other kind of addiction, getting rid of shopping addiction requires that you get rid of your emotional problems behind this addiction. Are you trying to gain control over your life by buying things? Are you trying to fix your mood? Are you trying to fix your self-image?

Knowing the answer to these questions is the first step you need to get rid of shopping addiction. The next step then should be dealing with that root cause. If your problem was a self-image problem, then fixing your poor self-image will make you less addicted to shopping.

Advice such as “keep your money at home” or “don’t go to the mall without knowing what you want” might work for a little period of time, but unless you deal with the underlying emotional problems, shopping addiction will come back again.