Compulsive purchases (or oniomania): what do they say about us?

If compulsive purchase disorder, also called oniomania, is not yet an addiction to the World Health Organization (WHO), many specialists consider it as such.Loss of control, excessive expenses, negative repercussions on personal level ... Why, for some people, buy can it become a "drug"?

"When you buy compulsively, you feel pleasure immediately after spending.But as this purchase is made to satisfy a negative emotion or to avoid a problem, we then regret it very quickly.We then realize that the expense is superfluous: the person concerned is often already indebted, "says Marthylle Lagadec, who specifies that most often, the most concerned people are women, often alone, isolated, who do not work and who are'bored.

The causes

As in other addictions, we find the same vulnerability factors: we buy in a compulsive way to relieve discomfort, anxiety, or even low self-esteem.In other words, we internalize emotions rather than exteriorize them.

"The consumer society does not help!"points out the specialist."We are in an overconsumption society, so the expectation of pleasure is difficult to manage, we have a desire for immediate."And with access to many online stores," there is no longer any need to try clothes.It is a bolt of purchase: as people who no longer have a taste for food, there, there is no longer the taste of trying, the simple fact of buying matters "addedshe.

How do you notice it?

"In general, the individual will not immediately realize that these purchases become problematic and indebted him, until the banker contacts him," said the addictologist.In addition, it happens that those around them make comments: "You accumulate clothes, this one, you have never put it", for example.

How to get out of it?

To stop buying in a compulsive way, the specialist strongly recommends putting behavioral strategies in place: blocking her purchasing contact details, for example.Regarding purchases in reality, Marthylle Lagadec advises to move without credit card, only with species, in order to limit its budget reasonably.

When these resolutions fail, "when the person is indebted and finds himself in a situation of great frustration, irritability, stress because they can no longer spend, or even try by all means to buy by borrowingMoney with those around him, it is better to consult, "said the professional.An addictologist will accompany this person to put compulsive behavior at a distance and help him understand why he was able to act like this.

"Talk to your entourage, insists the addictologist.This is important to get help, in one way or another, "she concludes.

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