Compulsive buying disorder (CBD) is characterized by an obsession with shopping and buying behavior that causes adverse consequences. It "is experienced as a reoccurring, compelling and irresistible–uncontrollable urge, in acquiring goods that lack practical utility and very low cost resulting in excessive, expensive and time-consuming retail activity [that is] typically prompted by negative affectivity" and results in "gross social, personal and/or financial difficulties". Most people with CBD meet the criteria for a personality disorder. Compulsive buying can also be found among people with Parkinson's disease or frontotemporal dementia.
Compulsive buying-shopping disorder is classified by ICD-11 among "other specified impulse control disorders". Several authors have considered compulsive shopping rather as a variety of dependence disorder.
History
According to German physician Max Nordau, French psychiatrist Valentin Magnan coined the term oniomania in the 1892 German translation of his Psychiatric Lectures (). Magnan describes compulsive buying as a symptom of social degeneration. In his book Degeneration (1892), Nordau calls oniomania or "buying craze" a "stigma of degeneration". Emil Kraepelin described oniomania as of 1909, and he and Bleuler both included the syndrome in their influential early psychiatric textbooks. Kraepelin described oniomania as "a pathological desire to buy... without any actual need and in great quantities", considering it alongside kleptomania and other conditions that were thought to be related to impulsivity (of the type nowadays denoted impulse control disorders).
Relatively little interest seems to have been taken in collocating CBD as a distinct pathology until the 1990s. It has been suggested that even in the 21st century, compulsive shopping can be considered a barely recognised mental illness. Since 2019, ICD-11 (the 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases) has classified it among "other specified impulse control disorders" (coded as ), using the descriptor compulsive buying-shopping disorder.
Characteristics
CBD is characterized by an obsession with shopping and buying behavior that causes adverse consequences. According to Kellett and Bolton, it "is experienced as an irresistible–uncontrollable urge, resulting in excessive, expensive and time-consuming retail activity [that is] typically prompted by negative affectivity" and results in "gross social, personal and/or financial difficulties". What differentiates CBD from healthy shopping is the compulsive, destructive and chronic nature of the buying. Where shopping can be a positive route to self-expression, in excess it represents a dangerous threat.
CBD is frequently comorbid with mood, anxiety, substance abuse and eating disorders. People who score highly on compulsive-buying scales tend to understand their feelings poorly and have low tolerance for unpleasant psychological states such as negative moods. The onset of CBD occurs in the late teens and early twenties and is generally chronic. The phenomenon of compulsive buying tends to affect women rather than men. The aforementioned reports on this matter indicated that the dominance of the majority group is so great that it accounts for about more than 90% of the affected demographic. Zadka and Olajossy suggest the presence of several similar tendencies between consumer-type mannerisms and pathologic consumption of psychoactive elements. These tendencies include a constant need to consume, personal dependence, and a tendency to lack a sense of self-control over behavior. Additionally, Zadka and Olajossy state that one could conclude that individuals suffering from the disorder are often in the second decade to fourth decade of their lives and exhibit mannerisms akin to neurotic personality and impulse-control disorders.
CBD is similar to, but distinguished from, OCD hoarding and mania. Compulsive buying is not limited to people who spend beyond their means; it also includes people who spend an inordinate amount of time shopping or who chronically think about buying things but never purchase them. Promising treatments for CBD include medication such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), and support groups such as Debtors Anonymous.
Research reveals that 1.8 to 8.1 percent of the general adult population have CBD and that while the usual onset is late adolescence or early adulthood, it is often recognized as a problem later in life.
Distinctions
Unlike normal consumers and hoarders, who derive excitement and focus on the items purchased, compulsive buyers gain excitement and focus on the acquisition process itself and not the item purchased