Are you addicted to shopping?

By Siddhi Jain

New Delhi, Nov 27 (SocialNews.XYZ) Shopping addiction, a behavior particularly common in young women and online shoppers, can give you signs that it has arrived for you.

Anuneet Sabharwal, a Delhi-based psychiatrist, lists signs of shopping addiction and how you can de-addict yourself.

There are two different types of addictions, behavioral (like addiction sex, porn, shopping, etc) and substance use (addiction to alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, etc), he told IANSlife.

Signs of a shopping addiction:

1. Tolerance, you need more and more doses of that particular behavior to get the same satisfaction
2. Withdrawal, both emotional and physical.
3. Neglect of other activities and obsession to the point that you're not able to take any action on it
4. You are unable to control what you're shopping when you're shopping, you're unable to maintain your social and occupational life
5. Whenever you are not shopping, you're thinking about shopping and you're experiencing some kind of distress, so it becomes a way for you to release stress.
6. You have a high for the buy. You're thinking about the next binge of shopping.

   Shopping addiction is mostly diagnosed in young women (early 20s to late 30s), which has a strong cultural component to it. It appears to be more in women than women, just like alcoholism is more prevalent in men. "Also, now everywhere you see, there's branding and a nudge to shop," the expert said.

   How to de-addict?

7. It affects those who do online Shopping. Get rid of all your debit and credit cards, and adopt cash. You have to then drive to the shop. Place barriers between you and the addiction.

8. Your craving lasts for less than 2-3 minutes to manage it during that time.

9. Remove visual cues like apps on your phone that prompts you to indulge in shopping behavior.

   (Siddhi Jain can be contacted at siddhi.j@ians.in)

Source: IANS