Why it is better not to treat stress and anxiety with shopping, said a psychologist

There are many ways to combat stress and anxiety, one of them is compulsive and unconscious shopping. Let’s find out why people make unnecessary purchases, how their psyche works at this moment and how to learn how to control anxious impulses.

What is compulsive shopping

Compulsive shopping is not just spending money, but a compulsive need to buy goods that are not necessary. People make compulsive purchases to improve mood, boost self-esteem, gain social support, and cope with stress. Such shopping often leads to intense feelings of shame, guilt, and further remorse. Compulsive shopping is not recognized as a separate disorder, but many experts believe it is a form of behavioral addiction.

psychologist, psychotherapist-practitioner

In stressful situations, people seek to find a source of joy and support to distract themselves from anxiety about the future. One easy way is to go shopping and enjoy new things. Indeed, shopping helps to take one’s mind off anxious thoughts, fears and immerse oneself in joy.

The problem arises when it is the only source of anxiety relief and shopping is done compulsively. Psychologists call such a method destructive and ineffective, because after a brief feeling of pleasure from the purchase, the state of confusion and anxiety returns.

Why a person makes spontaneous purchases

To understand a person prone to spontaneous purchases, you need to know what compulsive shopping is. When there is a desire to buy something, emotionally balanced people gather information about the product, compare different options, choose the most suitable and only then buy it.

Unconscious purchase is made according to a reduced scheme: a person has a desire and instantly fulfills it. Different people have different ability to self-control. Thus, people who make impulsive purchases, have a low level of self-control, easily fall into apathy, more often experience outbursts of aggression and are constantly in search of vivid impressions.

The psyche of such people is unstable, so they react to various marketing influences (advertising sales, bonuses, promotions). It is more difficult for them to cope with inner feelings, stress, anxiety, fear of loneliness. They try to quickly suppress these feelings, resorting to one of the options for quick relief of internal tension – shopping.

However, buying unnecessary things does not bring satisfaction, becomes a bad habit, the cause of large debts and quarrels with loved ones. Such purchases are also dangerous because they can be a symptom of one of the mental disorders (neurosis, anxiety disorder, depression, borderline personality disorder). In the latter case, the help of a psychologist is necessary.

Important changes often begin with small things. And it is not a sin to take advantage of this to improve the quality of life. How exactly – read the link below.

How to stop buying unnecessary goods

After making compulsive purchases, a person has a sense of guilt, he feels a general mental exhaustion, which manifests itself in a loss of energy, bad mood, indifference to events around him. Gradually, the desire to buy something turns into an addiction, and this negatively affects relationships with other people and leads to financial problems.

Psychologists suggest the following ways to relieve stress:

1. Engage in sports – yoga, swimming pool, Pilates.
2. Take a walk in nature.
3. Watch a comedy. Laughter is the best medicine.
4. Socialize with family and friends.
5. Do breathing practices. To do this, stand up straight, feel the support on your feet, close your eyes and take 50 deep breaths in and out.
6. Look around you and describe 15 objects out loud. What are they like?
7. Visit a counselor.
8. Engage in creative activities (singing, drawing, dancing, poetry, etc.).
9. Write out all the thoughts that have occurred to you in the last five minutes and then tear up the sheet.

Why impulsive consumption doesn’t eliminate anxiety

Compulsive buying most often covers an unfulfilled emotional need, allowing for quick but short-lived gratification. It is a consequence of feelings of anxiety, confusion and insecurity. Psychologists attribute impulse buying to a low level of awareness. That is, when there is an impulse to buy something, a person immediately follows it without realizing whether he needs this product or not.

neuropsychologist, candidate for UN Ambassadors for Peace, specialist in clinical psychology

Nowadays the world is extremely unstable, every day there are a lot of events, the infopole is full of not the most rosy headlines. And due to the fact that most people are not accustomed to limit the flow of information noise and think positively, program their consciousness, one way or another on an unconscious level anxiety arises.

Like a Trojan horse, anxiety turns into thoughts “I can’t control my life, my plans are falling apart, I don’t know what to do next, I’m scared”, which entails a series of inactions. The person becomes more apathetic, starts sleeping more, procrastinates, that is, in reality gives up trying to take any key actions to control the quality of their life.

Since all this drama most often unfolds on an unconscious level, the person does not even realize what is happening to him. And apathy and sadness are replaced by an unbridled desire to take control of something, to feel power and provoke the release of happy hormones, so the psyche protects us from an overabundance of stress, which forms anxiety, which, in turn, can lead to depression.

And what’s the fastest way to feel power (to take control of something) and get a dopamine release? We all remember from childhood the feeling of happiness when we are given gifts or bought new toys, taken to a cafe. That’s why when we grow up, the easiest defense mechanism against excess stress is shopping, delicious food, alcohol, cigarettes, games.

There are more environmentally friendly ways to please yourself. In the previous material told how to increase the production of happy hormones.

Asya: I often work with shopaholics, and the biggest frustration comes to them during the “ten things” exercise, the point of which is to find and get rid of (throw away, sell or give to charity) ten things every day that a person hasn’t used for more than 30-50 days. Recently, while going through a friend’s closet, we found over 20 items that she hadn’t worn once. The amount of money spent on these clothes exceeded 150 thousand rubles.

It is important to realize in time what is happening to you, you can do this by asking yourself questions: why am I buying this now? Do I really need this? Do I want to buy this to feel the joy of the purchase? Is there any other way I can get the joy?

With these questions, you can shift your focus to more “ecological” joys, such as seeing friends, sports, new hobbies. But, of course, the most effective way will be to identify the cause of anxiety and get rid of it, a therapist will definitely be able to help you with this. Then the need for addiction will simply disappear.