Dorothy Butler, a business administration senior, claims to be a shopoholic.
Butler represents many women on campus as she goes on her destructive shopping sprees. She does it just to make herself feel good. She does it because she feels she can’t make it through the week without buying something.
Although the idea of an anxiety-stricken woman on a credit card rampage sounds funny, it is quite serious. Compulsive shopping can put students in tremendous debt.
Butler said she has no doubt she has a problem.
“I know I am a compulsive shopper. I have more credit cards than anyone else I know. I have 14 credit cards. I don’t even know what cards I have,” Butler said.
Compulsive shopping, or shopoholism, is a growing epidemic for college students who should be on a tight budget. Shopoholism is not just a problem encountered during the holiday season, but can effect students all year long.
According to a study at Indiana University, the compulsion to shop is usually brought on by depression, anxiety, anger or sadness, and effects mostly females.
The compulsive shopper shops in order to feel better or to relieve the stress of every day life. For the shopoholic, making a purchase is a thrill. It gives the person a temporary high, much like a drug.
Although most people do not think of shopping as a bad habit, compulsive shopping disorder is a lot like any other addiction. Many compulsive shoppers experience depression or anxiety before they go on a binge.
But Butler said she just wants to feel better when something happens, good or bad.
“I think sometimes I shop because I need to feel better. If I get a bad grade on a test, I go buy myself something. If I do well at something I go buy something. Anytime I’ve ever broken up with someone, I went to the mall to make myself feel better. I don’t think it is ‘depression,’ but I think it is more like an event to me,” Butler said.
The Indiana University Web site also stresses that often, the compulsive shopper goes out in search of one thing they need, but returns with bags and bags of things.
Sometimes, the shopper does not even realize what they have bought because they go into a trance in the store, much like a drug addicts do when they are in search of a high.
Butler said she thinks stores contribute to her problem by having massive sales and offering percentages off.
“They run sales to get me to buy things. They tell me if I get another credit card I get 10% off. The Limited tells me if I spent $300 I get a gift certificate,” Butler said.
According to sciencedaily.com, a Web site for scientific news, people with compulsive shopping disorder tend to spend money on specific things such as shoes, jewelry, hair and face products, and certain kinds of clothing.
“I get facials, pedicures, salon treatments. I’m attracted to expensive brand name things. Mine is a snobby fixation,” Butler said.
Another student, Lorena Johnson, a library sciences junior, said she shops because of depression and often feels guilty about her purchases later.
“I have bags of things I bought that still have the tags on them, and I hide my stuff from my boyfriend because I am afraid of what he’ll say,” she said.
Johnson said she tends to purchase things that are a certain color or texture.
“If I am walking through the mall and I see something red or shiny, I have to buy it. I just love red shiny things. I don’t know why I feel like I have to have these things because I know I don’t need them. I just feel better after I have them,” Johnson said.
According to the Stanford University Medical Center Web site, Stanford is conducting extensive experiments regarding the cure for shopoholism.
So far, they have confirmed antidepressants may help severe cases. But most compulsive shoppers do not feel they need antidepressants, and some do not want to stop their destructive behavior.
Dorothy Butler said she does not want to stop shopping because it is one of the joys in her life.
“I would not take a drug to make me stop doing something I like to do. I don’t care how many bills I have,” Butler said.