Reading Text 1 You Might Be A Shopoholic
Reading Text 1 You Might Be A Shopoholic
Reading Text 1 You Might Be A Shopoholic
TEXT 1
Is your closet overflowing with never-worn clothing, the price tags still waving in the breeze?
Is your attic bulging with boxes and boxes of shoes that have never touched pavement? Do
you buy new makeup weekly or compact discs by the fistful? You might be a shopaholic.
Studies estimate that as many as 17 million Americans, better than one in 20 of us, can't
control our urge to shop, even at the expense of our job, our marriage, our family and our
finances.
In the land of consumption, compulsive shopping is the smiled-upon addiction, the joked
about in countless sitcoms and Sunday comics, one of the few disorders that it's still OK to
laugh at. Shop 'til you drop. The one who dies with the most toys wins. Heck, President Bush
even called it patriotic to overdo it. Where's the harm?
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Manhattan psychologist April Benson, author of "I Shop Therefore I Am: Compulsive Buying
and the Search for Self," has seen firsthand how destructive compulsive shopping can be.
"One patient of mine got fired because she was compulsively shopping on the Internet all day.
There are other people who neglect their children and park them in the mall constantly
because that is what they need to feed their habit. Lots of marriages break up over compulsive
buying. In fact, we don't call it compulsive buying unless there is some significant harm in
some aspect of your life."
Not only is compulsive shopping approved of by our materialistic society, it is just as widely
misunderstood. For starters, according to Donald Black, M.D., a University of Iowa
psychiatry professor who specializes in obsessive-compulsive disorder, compulsive shopping
isn't a true compulsion at all, but instead an impulse control disorder. “A compulsion is a
behavior that is produced to counteract an upsetting thought; for example, I'm contaminated
or dirty, therefore I will deal with that anxiety by washing my hands more," he says. "There is
no upsetting thought prompting compulsive shopping. It is a very pleasurable impulse, and
people act on those."
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While research suggests that nine in 10 shopaholics are women, Benson says it's incorrect to
name this a female disorder. "People who are part of their studies are psychiatric in- or
outpatients, and women self-refer for these problems much more so than men. Recent studies
coming out of Europe suggest that more men are beginning to have these problems. In
addition to the fact that they don't self-refer for the types of studies on which these statistics
are based is the fact that society often calls men who are compulsive buyers 'collectors.' It
gives it a sophisticated and slightly intellectual image."
The same is true of the misconception that compulsive shopping is a problem of the privileged
class. "We say that money is an equal opportunity mood changer," says Benson. "There have
been a few studies linking socioeconomic class with compulsive buying and no significant
results have been found. I had a colleague who had a guy on welfare who compulsively
bought."
Black suggests we reject the notion that shopaholics are unaware of their problem. "They are
perfectly aware of what they're doing. Intellectually, they know that their closets and maybe
their attic is full, but then they will be in the store and think, well, maybe I do need this one
blouse or this will come in handy or I don't have one in this particular shade so I'll buy it.
They usually hide it from their husbands. They do have feelings of guilt."
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What do women want? In order of preference, most female compulsive shoppers buy clothes,
shoes, jewelry, makeup and compact discs. Men? Clothing, shoes, electronics (TVs, stereos,
computers, etc.), hardware and CDs. Sounds normal enough, right? So how does compulsive
shopping differ from your last trip to the mall? "Well, they don't buy one CD, they buy 10
CDs at a time," says Black.
"They might buy five skirts, all the same, perhaps in different shades or slightly different
styles, where a normal buyer would identify a need for something new or attend a sale and
buy one item."
Benson notes that shopaholics overspend on services as well as goods. "I had one patient who
had her hair blown dry maybe two or three times a week. Between the color, the cut and the
blow-dry, she was spending at least $200 if not $250 a week on her hair, and that didn't
include all the hair products," she says.
Some shopaholics have more eccentric tastes, though they are by far the minority. Black had
one patient who was addicted to Beanie Babies, another who compulsively bought garden
figurines; Benson treated a man who only bought compulsively for his camper.
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Black says the typical shopaholic cycle is not unlike that of the compulsive gambler -- or even
the serial killer. "What the patients will typically describe is they have a baseline
preoccupation with shopping, they're always thinking about it, and a tension builds and they
have to satisfy that tension by going out and shopping. That relieves the tension, at least for
the time being," he says.
Some shop out of loneliness, others for the energy it gives, still others to fill some inner need.
Some seek greater self-esteem, others use it to battle depression. Some shop to return to a
happy childhood, others to escape a bad one. But few shopaholics consider it a disorder until
their debts or conflicts in their marriages leave them no other choice.
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All of which makes compulsive shopping especially difficult to for doctors to deal with. Black
says drug studies using serotonin uptake inhibitors (Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, etc.) have met with
mixed results, as the disorder seems to respond equally well to real and fake drugs.
Benson hopes to start her own 12-step-style therapy program this fall, focusing on group
techniques to change cognitive behavior. The only other group program treating compulsive
shopping in this way is in Fargo, N.D. "Frankly, there is so little research done that I'm not
sure you can talk about success rate," Black admits. "Very few people are studying this or
writing about it. There are no standards for treatment, so there are no good definitions of what
constitutes recovery. Is their buying down to your level or my level? Or should they avoid
shopping like they tell alcoholics? You can't do that realistically. Maybe if you go shopping,
at least have someone with you so you don't go overboard."
SKIMMING
Read the text and match the following headings with the appropriate sections.
A. Famous shopaholics
B. Treatment
C. Why people become shopaholics
D. What shopaholics buy
E. Misconceptions about shopaholism
F. Real consequences
DETAILED READING
Answer the following questions. The questions are in the same order as the information
in the text.
4. According to the text, shopaholism was defined as early as 1915. Why is it seen more often
now?
5. What is the difference between society’s perception of women’s and men’s shopaholism?
10. What important point is made in the text about treatment of shopaholism?