Shopping and debt
Nearly 800,000 women in the UK are obsessed with shopping and admit to running up an average debt of £182.92 per month on cosmetics and clothes. Putting many into serious debt.
These shopaholics cannot take control of their finances. When shopping online or in the high street they can not help themselves and lose sense of all responsibility. Very rarely do they use their debit card as figures show that 72% of women excitedly hand over their credit card to pay for their extravagances thus accruing a net average of £8,092.
Many are hiding behind insecurities that are only fulfilled when they shop, hence the name retail therapy. A day’s retail therapy could clock up a whopping few hundred pounds on the plastic as the shopper looses herself in an adrenalin rush of spending, even buying items that she doesn’t really need. The shopper is not in control and all sense of responsibility goes out of the shop window! She sees shopping as a form of medicine and by spending excessively, she feels as though she is self-medicating herself and healing her pain.
As with all addictions, the thrill only lasts for a short while and in between shopping episodes the sufferer may subsidize her void by drinking or taking prescription drugs to cope with her low moods.
Help is at hand for suffers who should contact their GP. Shopping addiction will soon be recognized as a psychiatric disorder, so women need not feel any shame in admitting that they have a problem with controlling their spending. Free debt advice or debt management companies are also available to help sufferers reduce their rising debt.
Finance News posted on 30/05/2007 15:35:09
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