Compulsive buying disorder (CBD), is an obsession with shopping and buying behavior that causes adverse consequences. Compulsive buying "is experienced as an irresistible and an uncontrollable urge, resulting in excessive, expensive and a time-consuming retail activity that is typically prompted by negative affectivity" and results in " social, personal and/or financial difficulties”. Compulsive shopping may be considered an impulse control disorder, an obsessive-compulsive disorder, a bipolar disorder, or even a clinical addiction, depending on the characteristics shown by the person. Shopping as a mood lifter may be an adaptive behavior if no compulsion is involved; it has jokingly been called as the retail therapy. But it can be either used as a therapy or an addiction, depending on whether it is adaptive or maladaptive. Recently, psychologists have begun to think that spending can be a compulsive behavior similar to gambling, food …show more content…
The person who buys several identical jackets in different shades because he/she simply "has to" or because, "I felt satisfied in it," even though the person knows he/she cannot afford to pay for it, is a simple example. Even though the consequences may have severe effects on his/her daily life, the compulsive consumer buys it anyway. As a result of this, normal activities for example opening the mail or answering the phone has take on new meaning. For many compulsive shoppers there is a constant feeling of fear of being confronted by another large bill amount, or angry creditor. Many try to hide both the bill amounts and the items purchased for fear of being finding it. In some scenarios, people have even engaged in criminal activities in order to pay for their bills and maintain their line of