“Whoever said money can’t buy happiness simply didn’t know where to go shopping.” “I only came for one thing, but now my shopping cart is full. Oops.” Shopping is my cardio, shopping is my sport, shopping is my therapy all expressions so tongue in cheek that we hear and see so often, but retail therapy is a very real experience.
It is a consumer behavior characterized by the act of making purchases with the purpose of making themselves feel better emotionally or simply for fun. This begs the question: what is the difference between someone who simply enjoys shopping from a real shopaholic?
When the shopaholic goes on a spree, no matter how big or how small, it has the potential to stimulate neurotransmitters, particularly dopamine and endorphins, which may contribute to an improvement in one’s emotional state. Shopping is pleasurable but after the rush, people may feel shame, sadness, or guilt. Especially when purchasing in the name of self-care and aesthetics linked to one’s elf-concept because like style it’s not in a single piece you have to create it for yourself and in the end you’re just left with things. Then they need the rush again to boost the mood and the habit cycles.
Combining this with the trend cycle and how aesthetics function currently in society 2023, we begin to see the dangers of aestheticized Self-Care. While the aesthetics, products, and concepts themselves are not the issue.
In combination with compulsive shopping and/or retail therapy this may lead to further crisis of identity and heighten the dangers of Oniomania in combination with loss or discontent from identity as style is the outward expression of identity derived from one’s beliefs, morals, values, and so on.
Self-care helps you build a positive bond with yourself and feel good about yourself. Combining this with aesthetics is so powerful it’s very similar to practicing art therapy because fashion is a form of art.
Neuroaesthetics, a branch of experimental science, integrates psychological research with aesthetics to explore the perception, creation, and reaction to art, as well as interactions with objects and scenes that elicit profound sensations, often associated with pleasure. The act of engaging with fashion, beyond mere adornment, has a discernible influence on one’s cognitive and emotional state. Similar to other forms of artistic expression such as music, movies, and paintings, fashion has the capacity to evoke emotions of hope, comfort, and security. It’s why we are drawn to certain aesthetics. I previously covered this topic more in-depth in a video on Semiotics of Fashion.
This influence of practicing self-care aesthetically extends beyond the physical state, including the mental and emotional dimensions as well. Clothing has the potential to serve as a source of inspiration, functioning as a visual therapy that contributes to the establishment of purpose, individuality, and attention. Of course, we as people, evolve and it’s quite natural to look into your closet over time and not feel that the pieces are so you anymore, but the shopaholic constantly places value on novelty. Although there has been a recent uptick in consumer culture, it’s crucial to remember that shopping addiction has been there for a long time. This phenomenon was first identified in the early nineteenth century, and by the early twentieth century, it had been designated as a psychiatric disorder by the name of Oniomania which in origin “onios” means sale and “mania” means madness in Greek.
According to research published in 2014 in the Journal of Consumer Psychology, the act of engaging in retail therapy has been shown to provide immediate and long-term psychological benefits. Engaging in the act of shopping may instill within individuals a feeling of empowerment and autonomy, as it affords them the opportunity to exercise their agency through choosing and buying various goods and services, therefore producing tangible outcomes that mirror a coveted self concept.
The concept, promise, or beliefs around the items evoke a sensation of gratification, but when the buyer is not purchasing from a place of substance the style becomes an empty promise leading to further negative emotions and the need to shop again. The purchase creates euphoria – akin to the thrill a high-stakes gambler experiences when placing a daring wager. Dr. Bea explains in the study how dopamine is released prior to even before actually buying an item, stating quote “Some think the dopamine is released when you actually get a reward or purchase an item, but it begins before you make a purchase as you’re delighting in all the possibilities,” he says. “It’s about the whole journey.”
So, why do people become hooked on shopping to the point of addiction? There are many factors that come into play as each instance is individual, however, there are prevalent shared experiences that may be seen, including diminished self-esteem, societal status desires, a need to regain control, perfectionism, escapism, and the presence of pathological hoarding tendencies.
These are more heightened experiences but individuals who hold the traits of being kind, sympathetic, and polite to others will be more susceptible since it is not uncommon for them to experience feelings of loneliness and isolation as they are more likely to accommodate others and put them before themselves. Engaging in shopping activities provides individuals with an avenue to actively pursue social interactions since fashion is group thinking and can tangibly capture an era, societal movement, culture, and social stance. Frequently, the act of making a purchase serves not just as a means of placing a mental band-aid on a wound, but also has symbolic significance in relation to an individual’s desired self-image. Perhaps to appear even prettier, more successful, athletic, or popular for instance.
In “I Shop Therefore I Am,” Benson details the studies that conclude obsessive shoppers have an innate psychological need to constantly add new items to their collections. For these customers, the focus is not on the amount of money used, but rather on the emotional experience derived from their purchases. For example, let’s say a girl, let’s call her Sasha. She is a 23-year-old student who lives with a roommate and is in grad school. Often she feels overwhelmed with classwork, anxious about exams, and has a tendency to engage in catastrophic thinking even though in reality everything overall is going well. When she feels stressed, she will unwind by going on social media, spending time with friends, or shopping.
One day she’s with her friends and one is drinking a matcha latte and this triggers something within her. To her this matcha is not just matcha it reminds her of that girl and pilates princess aesthetic and she gets to talking with her friend about wanting to be healthier and more put together. She sees other girls with this look and loves the style. She goes home and begins purchasing that girl and pilates princess aesthetic items. The bodysuits, cute little shrugs, a whole new skincare routine, the yeti cup, plush pullovers, leggings, journals, leg warmers, silk pajama sets, skincare headbands and is ordering self-help books watching these Vogue beauty secret videos, waking up early, and meditating. All good things. Personally, I think it’s quite lovely to see trends that promote wellness in different areas of life.
Conceptually it is very positive, someone athletic, dedicated, disciplined, smart, and pretty. She engages in self-care activities regularly, reads, attends pilates classes, and eats well. All very positive traits and actions for one to engage in, but just looking the part doesn’t bring this to reality. You could have this look and not live this way, also someone may not have this look at all and have a lifestyle that matches this description. You can look any sort of way and do anything, but when you aestheticize it to an extreme, you begin to form a bit of a fantasy. The individual is hindered by the limitations imposed by aesthetics when it is applied this way because it imposes constraints on these characteristics and presents them in a more favorable light than their true nature. Maybe through monetary value, beauty standards, and so on.
After the first burst of excitement from the arrival of all the items wears off, Sasha experiences rising levels of dread and self-loathing. She thought to herself, “I can’t believe I just did that. Do I really need three pairs of leg warmers?” Maybe she goes on to return the items or maybe she just lets them pile up in her closet because in reality just feels more comfortable in the hoodie and jeans she typically wears to go to class
until the next trend rolls around and suddenly she wants to like that.
Now this is not to say you can’t enjoy trends, experience an aesthetic, or go on a shopping spree to refresh your wardrobe. The shopaholic tends to not purchase a product, but into a promise that in the end is empty. When the tangible good cannot deliver all this, the empty feels come flooding in.
When individuals align themselves aesthetically, it serves as a visible representation of their desired position in society. Consumer culture builds on what it sees as our “flaws” by propagating the notion that individuals may attain a greater sense of self-sufficiency.
As opposed to a healthy relationship with buying, When goods are bought to fulfill a need without feeling compelled to do so and there is no monetary stress with the occasional splurge here and there. Typically on a psychological level, the buyer behavior follows 5 steps which involve recognizing a problem, doing research, weighing the pros and cons of different options, making a choice to buy, and reviewing the purchase afterward.
The experience of a shopaholic can be broken down into 4 stages that cycle. The first stage, expectation, begins when the desire arises, such as when the shopper sees an advertisement or someone else using the product; the second, preparation, occurs when the shopper makes decisions about where to go and what to get; the third, the actual shopping experience, occurs when the shopper feels brief comfort and a sense of fulfillment while shopping; and the fourth, spending, occurs when the shopper experiences the buying behavior and dissatisfaction his purchase.
There are telltale symptoms of a shopaholic:
Constantly preoccupied on new products, trends, and future purchases
Regularly buying something as a treat or to lift your spirits
Experiencing a surge of happiness after making a purchase
Possessing feelings of remorse or sorrow about purchases
The shopper has started concealing their purchases from friends, family, or acquaintances.
An unhealthy fixation with retail therapy through storefronts, virtual shops, and televised shopping networks living vicariously.
Shopping addiction is neither only or even mostly caused by hypomania or mania.
One of the most challenging aspects of treating oniomania, similar to eating disorders, is that shopping is a part of everyday life. We purchase gas to go to school or work, buy groceries for the week, and use a streaming service for entertainment. Treatment options include:
Professional Support Includes: Psychotherapy, Cognitive-behavioral treatment, Self-help books, Support groups, Financial counseling
I understand not everyone can afford or has the time for treatment, but Dr. Bea discusses how if you feel you are developing a compulsive shopping behavior you should try to channel the excitement into a new behavior and how you will experience a new type of happiness through those positive results like maybe fitness or learning a language. It is almost like transforming your baggage into a toolbox to carry where you can help yourself and even others.
Obviously, this is a YouTube video and not meant to take the place of actual treatment, if you are struggling I would advise you to confide in someone you trust and seek professional help.
First I do need to share a disclaimer. If you are feeling hopeless, depressed, struggling with an eating disorder or anxiety anything in this realm please seek out help from a professional and tell someone you trust like a family member or a friend to work through these feelings safely. I’m not here nor do I provide psychological support or diagnosis, I purely focus on personal style, fashion, and image but of course, certain struggles may arise.
So one approach I could do for instance, if I have a client with shopping issues, we don’t work through that but we work with it so that every time they go to get dressed it is easier on them. It could be like a wave washes over them every morning when they look in the mirror, so I help them build a dam to keep the water from crashing over and they can choose to look out over the water when they want to face it in a safe space with a professional. But if you are someone who finds yourself buying into aesthetics wardrobe curation is a great way to have a collection of clothes, beauty products, or lifestyle items that are truly in line with who you are, your goals, and your coveted look.
A great way to approach this is to do this prior to the season so when it’s fall/winter you curate for spring/summer and vice versa. Instead of engaging in retail therapy behaviors, I recommend bookmarking items, maybe using a site such as Pinterest to see everything together and allow time to pass. You get the same thrill as window shopping and can even throw in some inspo photos. You can pin multiple colors or alternative products to select the best fit over time. Really think about why you are purchasing because it’s completely normal to cover something, but it’s not healthy to absolutely feel the need for it.
To follow up for our hypothetical example with Sasha, it could be that she saves various journals and over time researches the best fit and ends up purchasing one single journal that she will actually use or find that, “Oh I don’t actually want the boots with the bows on them, but I like the ones without them.” or even find that some of the pieces she saved she doesn’t even want them anymore. Time passes and the promise of tomorrow is no longer applicable because it is tomorrow.
You will find yourself buying less into passing fads, trending aesthetics, or pieces that will age poorly for a more wearable, functional wardrobe and overall a style that actually aligns with your wants and needs.
SOURCES: Why Retail “Therapy” Makes You Feel Happier- https://health.clevelandclinic.org/re… What Is a Shopping Addiction?- https://www.verywellmind.com/shopping…
