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The Paly Voice

The Student News Site of Palo Alto High School

The Paly Voice

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Do you feel the rush, the exhilaration, the pure joy from shopping? That’s right, more and more people, especially women, are being hit by this phenomenon, the extreme temptation and the mental and physical necessity to go shopping. “Compulsive shopping is becoming a rising problem in the United States,” according to Helen Chuong clinical research coordinator with the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. These obsessive individuals are “shopaholics.” Chuong, defines compulsive shopping as having a preoccupation with buying, impulses or behaviors that cause marked distress, are time consuming, significantly interfere with social or occupational functioning o result in financial problems.

Where does the desire to “shop ‘til you drop” stem from? “Several people who we have studied have either a weight or eating issue” Chuong says. “This reflects an overall inability to regulate impulses; thus, they behave impulsively in the form of shopping and with food.” Now their shopping habits and acquired material items draw attention and compliments; however, according to Chuong there is no definitive and significant relationship between compulsive shopping and eating disorders. “I like to have expensive clothes and cute outfits because I get compliments,” says an anonymous Senior girl, “It fills the void of not getting many compliments on my physical appearance.”

The Stanford Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Clinic at Department of Psychiatry, performed a study of 24 female shopaholics in 2003. All participants in the experiment were either referred by other mental health professionals, or recreuited by advertisements, such as newspapers and radio. Each participant had to meet the criteria of a compulsive shopper, be over 18 years of age, generally healthy, and not taking other psychotropic medications. Each patient was given Citalopram, a drug originally designed to treat depression, for the duration of the experiment, which lasted a total of one and a half years. The results proved promising. The drug produced marked improvements in their compulsive shopping behavior. Women who previously found themselves running up huge debts have now found hope and assistance.

This erratic disorder spawned many new worries concerning the economic well being of our country. Consumer spending is soaring, and it is estimated that one in five people has a problem keeping their shopping habits under control, according to the BBC article “compulsive shopping”. Personal debt is mounting, especially among women due to easy credit, peer pressure, and advertising.

Women are competitive with one another concerning their clothes and appearance. “I think girls make assumptions about each other based on the kind of clothes they wear and how they put themselves together,” says Senior Kate Clark. Therefore, this makes consumer spending among women the highest. “I am currently thousands of dollars in debt to my parents but I still continue to go out and shop,” says an anonymous Palo Alto High School Senior girl, “Why, you ask? Because it makes me feel good and no one is stopping me.”

The Citalopram drug test results have their fair share of criticism. Robert Lefever with the Promise Recovery Center in London treats patients suffering from a range of addictions. “The assumption is that if you calm people’s mood they won’t do silly things. I’m not aware that this is true, I think all you do is make zombies out of them,” says Lefever.

Next time you are feeling the urge to splurge, think about the greater well-being, not only for yourself, but our country. If the feeling still remains, consider donating money towards a cause you support.

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