Background of Omniomania - Assignment Example

Shopaholic Shamsa Najem Al Hosani U2915368 8/December/2011 Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Shopaholic 3 Introduction 3 Background of Omniomania 3 Causes of Shopping Addiction 4 Psychological Effects of Shopping Addiction 5 Recommendations 8 Conclusion 9 References 10 Elizabeth, H. (2010). Is Compulsive Shopping Really an Addiction? . 11 William, G. (2001). Compulsive Shopping Addiction. 11 < http://www.indiana.edu/~engs/hints/shop.html> 11 Shopaholic Introduction Omniomania is a concept indicating people who are addicted to shopping. Those people are usually not able to control their spending. According to Elizabeth (2010), the activity of shopping and spending comes with a feeling of happiness and power, which is instantly satisfying. The afterward effects of regret and guilty compel the spender to go back and buy again in order to accomplish that short-lived, but powerful, emotional high. Research has indicated that several compulsive buyers suffer from mood disorders, drug abuse or even eating disorders. Just like any other form of addiction, the shopaholic turns out to be dependent on shopping behavior to alleviate negative feelings that maybe causing anguish and anxiety. This paper will look at shopaholics, the psychological causes, the factors that encourage compulsive shopping as well as how this behavior can be managed. Shopping addiction is a true psychological behavior problem because of the effects of family problems, social problems and financial problems Background of Omniomania Omniomania is the pattern of chronic, cyclic buying that is hard to stop and in the end leads into detrimental results. It is an impulse control disorder and is similar to other addictives but it does not engage usage of intoxicating substances. If a person is a shopaholic, he/she compulsively engages in shopping and spends whatever needed to get what they want. Actually, one purchases things not needed and things that may never be used. Whereas women are regularly perceived as being shopaholics more than men, it seems that men and women might be equally affected. However, women tend to be more addicted to shopping where they regularly purchase things that they do not require (Black, 2007). With the ever rising access to credit cards, the number of individuals who are shopaholics is surprising. It is approximated that there are over 15 million shopaholics within U.K. Similarly, it is approximated that around 6 to 7 percent of the U.S population are shopaholics. There are numerous factors that tend to raise the addictive likelihood of shopping and spending as well (Donald, 2007). The easy availability of credit cards as well as the material focus of the society generally, promotes individuals to accumulate possessions and worry regarding financial responsibility afterward. Buying has been simplified with on-line shopping in addition to T.V channels dedicated to purchasing goods 24 hours a day. The shopaholic believes that shopping will ease the negative feelings, such as depression, is loneliness or anger (Oscar, 2010). On the contrary, over-spending doesn’t assure more love, bolster self-esteem, cure the stress or solve the problems in life. Basically, it intensifies the negative feelings due to the increased financial debt an individual obtains from compulsive purchasing (William, 2001). Causes of Shopping Addiction Any kind of addiction such as shop addiction has many triggers and causes that promote it and increase the possibility of its occurring. Triggers are events or circumstances that lead to a destructive behavior. For example, emotional deprivation, and the failure to correctly deal with difficult issues such as loneliness, anger or emptiness and using the well-known routine of shopping may help in giving a sense of control. In addition, a shopaholic often has a need to distract her/himself from the negative feelings. However, shopping is an acceptable worldwide experience as compared to drug use. As a result, it should be noted that there are negative behaviors and responses related to shopping which cause feelings of suffering but that do not make up a shopping addiction, pressure or disorder, such as buyer’s regret. Buyer’s regret is the feeling that an exacting purchase was done in wrong way and that behavior was unsuitable (William, 2001). The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has regarded behavioral disorders like shopping addiction to be disorders because they share common features with other compulsive behaviors. There is a sense of arousal before going shopping, followed by pleasure or gratification while shopping, and a loss of arousal as well as experiencing feelings of remorse after shopping (Oscar, 2010). Some of the most important causes of shopping addiction are a reaction to dissatisfaction, unhappiness, stress, anger or fear by shopping. Shopping addiction can also result from a sense that one’s spending habits are out of control and are producing tension or disagreement in individual’s family in addition to anxiety. The compulsive buyer often has a feeling of guilt or regret concerning having gone shopping, particularly if it challenges assures made to one’s self or an appreciated one. A preoccupation with credit cards and finances built around how much one has spent and how much one will have to spend on shopping, and creative juggling of various accounts to make shopping possible also lead to compulsive buying (Oscar, 2010). Psychological Effects of Shopping Addiction Shopaholics believe that shopping will improve their feeling but it ends up making them feel worse. Compulsive spending can be a seasonal relief for the depression, apprehension and loneliness, for example during December holiday season (Oscar, 2010). For instance, Dubai is known as “shopping paradise” and many people travel to Dubai to do their shopping during such holidays. The Dubai shopping festival promotes shopping and encourages people to do shopping and this may make people to indulge to compulsive shopping. Compulsive buying can also lead into interpersonal, job, family as well as financial problems in a person’s life. Relationships can also be impaired due to extreme spending and efforts to conceal debt or purchases. As a result, the shopaholics might get anxious and depressed due to spending which can in turn interrupt with work or performance in school. According to Elizabeth, (2010) financial problems can take place if the shopaholic borrows money or uses the credit excessively in order to buy things. In most cases, the level of financial damage is established just after the shopaholic has mounted up a big debt that requires a radical change in way of life to resolve the financial problems. Omniomania often originates from an early experience, for instance where people who are emotionally deprived involuntarily shop to fill in the ‘voids’. For example, children who are neglected by their parents grow up having low self-esteem since during their childhood they had an experience of being insignificant as people and hence they learnt not to rely on individuals but to alternate for comfort. As a result, such children utilized toys or food to compensate the feelings of solitude. Adults who depended on materials for emotional support during their childhood have a higher likelihood of being addicted to shopping owing to feelings of deprivation they underwent when they were children (Elizabeth, 2010). Additionally, the shopaholic’s compulsive buying provide them with possession of things that give them the power to fight supposed dangers, mostly, loss of self-esteem to a lost affection, and they can consequently embark on buying things like toys or food to replace the lost affection (American Psychiatric Association, 2011). This can be illustrated in cases, where a woman is left by her boyfriend and embarks on compulsive buying to compensate for the lost affection. In the case of low self esteem, a person gets on impulsive buying to try to show the people she/he thinks have a low opinion of her/him that she/he is better than them by having the possessions. The person always tries to outdo the others by buying things that according to the person makes her/him feel more superior to others. Oscar, (2010), notes that, shopaholics are not able to handle life’s problems, more so the problems altering their self-esteem, and for them most of the problems within their lives can be momentarily subdued through purchasing something. The Role of Media and Big Companies Encouraging People in the Shops The, media and big companies play a big role in encouraging shopping. Provided that consumer culture has an effect on the psychological well-being as well as the sense of identity, compulsive buying has to be deemed as a major modern addiction; an addiction that has risen very fast over the last two decades. According to Ruth, (2010), this is principally true within capitalist societies, dependent on consumption, where omnipresent marketing and advertising encourages a culture where high material hopes compel consumer booms through encouragement of development of artificial needs. The shop advertisements and promotions contribute greatly in encouraging consumers to shop impulsively. These promotions are so good in persuading the customers. The advertisements are designed to make the customers follow the seller’s command of purchasing the product (Ruth, 2010). Several tools used by the sellers to attract the consumers include price cards, announcements, special displays and such. A research has shown that about 4 to 5 percent of overall sales are the result of special displays (Black, 2007). They utilize the displays to attract individuals and keep reminding them and fuel their impulses to purchase the products. In most cases, the images are used to induce the impulse of the buyers to buy the goods irrespective of the quality or value of the goods. Furthermore, credit cards facilitate the casual spending beyond one’s capacity. Still, online shopping encourages compulsive shopping since it is very convenient and simple to shop online and also online shopping stimulates an individual’s impulse to purchase anything, just like it occurs within a store. For instance, a popular company, Shop Text New York enables individuals to purchase just through text messaging. It is established that often old persons are regular online shoppers. The reasons for this include boredom and also loneliness. They do not have anything to do or a person they can talk to and hence they call up and purchase anything they see. Surprisingly, there is hardly any product they shop online that is either valuable or essential! Normally, retailers aim at emotions and children are the most targeted consumers in regard to this since children are easily attracted to anything and they develop instant liking (Black, 2007). Recommendations Shopaholics can curb this habit through shopping only with friends or relatives who are not compulsive buyers as they can help them curb the spending. It is also important for a shopaholic to find new ways of spending their leisure time as this is important in breaking the cycle of shopping as a way of trying to feel better about themselves (Donald, 2007). The compulsive buyers especially the ones with low self-esteem should always know they are worthwhile people, no matter how much or how little they own. It is highly recommendable to ensure that one plans the shopping budget and tries not to exceed the budgeted amount and make a list of the essential goods ones needs to buy in accordance with the budget, plan and stick to them. One should also pay for the purchases through cash, cheque or debit card. Again, one should avoid discount warehouse and if one visit a discount warehouse, it is important to allocate just a given amount of money to be spent. Finally, a shopaholic can take a walk or exercise if the shopping urge comes by and if one is out of control it is recommendable to seek help in counseling or support group (Donald, 2007). Conclusion There are psychological aspects that govern impulsive shopping behavior and they include emotions where feeling of happiness and lack of control impulses are some of the emotions allied to impulse buying. Retailers target these emotions and increase their product sale. Individuals even shop to fight insecurity for them to maintain their self identity. Constant shopping provides them with a feeling of completeness. Stress and mood swings also contribute to compulsive shopping. When a person is feeling low and depressed, they shop to overcome the problems. They do shopping excessively to cope up with stress but they don’t comprehend that shopping just suppresses the low feelings for a while. Advertisements and big companies contribute to compulsive shopping where they inform people to purchase things that will make them happy and also everybody wants to possess what other people have. These things promote individuals to shop for them to have most modern things, therefore turning people into shopaholics. This psychological behavior can be controlled by ensuring one makes a list of things to buy and according to their budget and sticks to it. Finally, a shopaholic can also engage to other leisure activities instead of going for shopping during their free time. References American Psychiatric Association. (2011). What is compulsive shopping and spending? American Psychiatric Association. < http://www.indiana.edu/~engs/hints/shop.html> Black, D. (2007). Two Cases of Compulsive Buying Behavior in Mentally Challenged Persons. Prim Care Companion J Clin Psychiatry. Vol. 9/6. < http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2139920/> Black, D. (2007). Compulsive Buying Disorder: A Review of the Evidence. CNS Spectr. Vol. 12/2. < http://www.cnsspectrums.com/aspx/articledetail.aspx?articleid=977>. Donald, W. (2007). A review of compulsive buying disorder. World Psychiatric Association. < http://www.way2hope.org/compulsive_shopping_addiction.htm> Elizabeth, H. (2010). Is Compulsive Shopping Really an Addiction? . Oscar, B. (2010). When Shopping Becomes an Addiction. < http://www.indiana.edu/~engs/hints/shop.html>. Ruth, E. (2010). How Can I Manage Compulsive Shopping And Spending Addiction (Shopoholism). Bloomington: Indiana University. . William, G. (2001). Compulsive Shopping Addiction. < http://www.indiana.edu/~engs/hints/shop.html> Read More

There are numerous factors that tend to raise the addictive likelihood of shopping and spending as well (Donald, 2007). The easy availability of credit cards as well as the material focus of the society generally, promotes individuals to accumulate possessions and worry regarding financial responsibility afterward. Buying has been simplified with on-line shopping in addition to T.V channels dedicated to purchasing goods 24 hours a day. The shopaholic believes that shopping will ease the negative feelings, such as depression, is loneliness or anger (Oscar, 2010).

On the contrary, over-spending doesn’t assure more love, bolster self-esteem, cure the stress or solve the problems in life. Basically, it intensifies the negative feelings due to the increased financial debt an individual obtains from compulsive purchasing (William, 2001). Causes of Shopping Addiction Any kind of addiction such as shop addiction has many triggers and causes that promote it and increase the possibility of its occurring. Triggers are events or circumstances that lead to a destructive behavior.

For example, emotional deprivation, and the failure to correctly deal with difficult issues such as loneliness, anger or emptiness and using the well-known routine of shopping may help in giving a sense of control. In addition, a shopaholic often has a need to distract her/himself from the negative feelings. However, shopping is an acceptable worldwide experience as compared to drug use. As a result, it should be noted that there are negative behaviors and responses related to shopping which cause feelings of suffering but that do not make up a shopping addiction, pressure or disorder, such as buyer’s regret.

Buyer’s regret is the feeling that an exacting purchase was done in wrong way and that behavior was unsuitable (William, 2001). The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has regarded behavioral disorders like shopping addiction to be disorders because they share common features with other compulsive behaviors. There is a sense of arousal before going shopping, followed by pleasure or gratification while shopping, and a loss of arousal as well as experiencing feelings of remorse after shopping (Oscar, 2010).

Some of the most important causes of shopping addiction are a reaction to dissatisfaction, unhappiness, stress, anger or fear by shopping. Shopping addiction can also result from a sense that one’s spending habits are out of control and are producing tension or disagreement in individual’s family in addition to anxiety. The compulsive buyer often has a feeling of guilt or regret concerning having gone shopping, particularly if it challenges assures made to one’s self or an appreciated one.

A preoccupation with credit cards and finances built around how much one has spent and how much one will have to spend on shopping, and creative juggling of various accounts to make shopping possible also lead to compulsive buying (Oscar, 2010). Psychological Effects of Shopping Addiction Shopaholics believe that shopping will improve their feeling but it ends up making them feel worse. Compulsive spending can be a seasonal relief for the depression, apprehension and loneliness, for example during December holiday season (Oscar, 2010).

For instance, Dubai is known as “shopping paradise” and many people travel to Dubai to do their shopping during such holidays. The Dubai shopping festival promotes shopping and encourages people to do shopping and this may make people to indulge to compulsive shopping. Compulsive buying can also lead into interpersonal, job, family as well as financial problems in a person’s life. Relationships can also be impaired due to extreme spending and efforts to conceal debt or purchases. As a result, the shopaholics might get anxious and depressed due to spending which can in turn interrupt with work or performance in school.

According to Elizabeth, (2010) financial problems can take place if the shopaholic borrows money or uses the credit excessively in order to buy things.

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