Dear 97ms,
Here are several stories like that, as well as support groups that
would help you get into more people with this problem:
Rita Simonetta, "Obsessive Collecting When Stuff Rules Your Life"
<http://www.journalism.ryerson.ca/online/replay/altlife/rsimonetta.htm>
" Obsessive collectors who can't control themselves from the next
purchase and who become so attached to their collection that they
can't function in the outside world might do so, Prof. Emslie says,
because they feel a lack of power in their lives."
Personal stories - section of Addicitons.co.uk (go there by going to
<http://www.addictions.co.uk/addiction.asp?ID=shop> and click on
"personal stories" on the right hand bar:
"I ran up a debt of ?24,000
Before I went into the Priory to be treated for shopping addiction, I
had run up a debt of ?24,000. From quite a young age, I had to have
‘nice’ things because they made me feel good.[...] I
sought professional help when I’d lost my job because I was out
of the offivce shopping all day long.[...]"
Joan Caplin, "Confessions of a compulsive shopper", Money Magazine,
November 4, 2005, <http://money.cnn.com/2005/07/20/pf/shopper_0508/>
America's 'orgy of consumption’, MSN - NBC, Oct. 23, 2005
<http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9753172/>
"When the shopping habit costs too much", BBC News, 8 March, 2000,
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/664290.stm>
Blaine Harden, "Javanomics 101: Today's Coffee Is Tomorrow's Debt"
Washington Post, June 18, 2005,
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/17/AR2005061701226.html>
Lisa Price as told to Beth J. Lueders, "Living in Secret Debt"
<http://www.troubledwith.com/stellent/groups/public/%5C@fotf_troubledwith/documents/articles/twi_030743.cfm?channel=Life%20Pressures&topic=Debt&sssct=Stories>
Advice and Treatment
--------------------
Donald Black, M.D., "Compulsive Buying: How to Keep the Money in Your
Wallet", Vitrual Hospital
<http://www.vh.org/adult/patient/psychiatry/prose/compulsivebuying.html>
Karen Mattson, M.A., "Compulsive shopping", May 17, 2002 Optum, Health Forums.com
<https://www.healthforums.com/library/1,1258,article~9708,00.html>
"I think my friend has a compulsive shopping problem. She seems really
out of control with her buying habits, and I'm worried about her. Can
you shed some light on this type of behavior and what to do about it?"
"Addicted to shopping" - Go Ask Alice!, January 28, 2000
<http://www.goaskalice.columbia.edu/1632.html>
"My mother is addicted to TV home shopping. Are there any sites on the
web that would provide some information on the diagnosis of this type
of addiction?"
E.J. Mundell, "Compulsive Shopping Carries a Heavy Price" HealthDay,
<http://www.healthcentral.com/newsdetail/408/528132.html>
What is Compulsive Shopping and Spending? , Illinois Institute for
Addiction Recovery
<http://www.addictionrecov.org/spendwhat.htm>
Peggy Elam, PhD, "Wife is Compulsive Shopper", iVillage
<http://health.ivillage.com/mindbody/mbpersonal/0,,4qlp,00.html>
"My wife cannot stop herself from shopping. She accumulates everything
in large amounts. We have a huge house, and she has taken 90 percent
of the space for her stuff. She had some issues with her mother and
was denied certain material things as a child, so now she has
accumulated an abundance in an effort to satisfy that need. What can
you tell me about compulsive shopping? Does the situation I have
described fit the profile of an obsessive-compulsive disorder?"
Michelle Haas-Dosher, "It Was Such a Bargain: Help for Compulsive Shoppers"
<http://hffo.cuna.org/story.html?doc_id=353&sub_id=12433>
Prof. Ruth Engs, "HOW CAN I MANAGE COMPULSIVE SHOPPING and SPENDING
(SHOPOHOLISM)",
<http://www.indiana.edu/~engs/hints/shop.html>
Shopping Addiction - Addictions.co.uk
<http://www.addictions.co.uk/addiction.asp?ID=shop>
Felipe Martinez, M.S., "Controlling spending problems", August 17,
2004 Optum, HealthForums.com
<https://www.healthforums.com/library/1,1258,article~11188,00.html>
Ginny Lund, M.A., L.P., C.E.A.P., "Bipolar disorder and spending
sprees", April 19, 2005 Optum, HealthForums.com
<https://www.healthforums.com/library/1,1258,article~8990,00.html>
What Is Spending Addiction?And How Do I Know If I Have It?
<http://www.4therapy.com/consumer/life_topics/article/5686/566/What+Is+Spending+Addiction%97And+How+Do+I+Know+If+I+Have+It%3F>
Shopaholics treated with drugs, BBC , 12 March, 2002,
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/1868364.stm>
Books
-----
April Lane Benson, Ph.D., _I Shop Therefore I am_
<http://www.stoppingovershopping.com/>
Ellen Mohr Catalano, Nina Sonenberg, _Consuming Passions: Help for
Compulsive Shoppers_ (New Harbinger Publications, 1993).
Janet Damon, _Shopaholics: Serious Help for Addicted Spenders_ (Hp Books, 1988).
Olivia Mellan, _Overcoming Overspending : A Winning Plan for Spenders
and Their Partners_ Walker & Company, 1997
Karen O'Connor, _When Spending Takes the Place of Feeling_, (Thomas
Nelson Inc, 1992).
-------------, _Addicted To Shopping: ...And Other Issues Women Have
With Money_ (Harvest House Publishers, 2005).
Articles
--------
RF Baumeister, DG Mick, "Yielding to Temptation: Self-Control Failure,
Impulsive Purchasing, and Consumer Behavior", Journal of Consumer
Research, 2002
DW Black, "Compulsive Buying Disorder",
DW Black, P Monahan, S Schlosser, S Repertinger, "Compulsive Buying
Severity: An Analysis of Compulsive Buying Scale Results in 44
Subjects." Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease. 189(2):123-126,
February 2001.
GA Christenson, RJ Faber, M Dezwaan, NC Raymond, "A Descriptive Study
of Compulsive Shoppers" American Psychiatric Association Conference,
Washington, DC, 1992
JE Grant, "Three cases of compulsive buying treated with naltrexone",
International Journal of Psychiatry in Clinical Practice, 2003
SH Lee, SJ Lennon, NA Rudd, "Compulsive consumption tendencies among
television shoppers", Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal,
2000
Schlosser S, Black DW, Repertinger S, Freet D. "Compulsive buying:
Demography, phenomenology, and comorbidity in 46 subjects" G
Support Groups
--------------
Spenders Anonymous
<http://www.spenders.org/indexnobutton.html>
" Spenders Anonymous is a 12-Step program based on the principles of
Alcoholics Anonymous, however there is no organizational affiliation
between Spenders Anonymous and A.A. Our intention with this web site
is to get the word out to compulsive spenders who are still suffering.
Our message is that you are not alone and that you too can find peace
and serenity through the twelve steps of Spenders Anonymous, as we
have."
Debtors Anonymous
<http://www.debtorsanonymous.org/>
Solvency.org
<http://www.solvency.org/>
The Foundation for Credit Counselling
<http://www.cccs.co.uk/about/aboutus.htm>
Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Orange County
<http://www.cccsoc.org/pages/stories/stories_01.phtml> (stories on the page)
I hope this answers your question. Please contact me if you need any
clarification on this answer before you rate it. My search terms were:
[debt "on sale" "buying OR shopping" stories]
[compulsive shoppers],
[related:www.spenders.org/],
["Spenders Anonymous"]
["obsessive collectors"]
[obsessive spenders],
[obsessive purchase]
["my debt" story shopping addiction],
["my debt" story shopping],
[compulsive "buying OR shopping" stories] |
