Fanny and Miss Chatelaine have severe shopping/online auction addictions ( and serious hoarding issues).
How many statements below apply to the gruesome twosome?
Are You Addicted to Online Auction Houses
Are you addicted to Ebay or online auction houses? Take our online auction addiction test to see if you might need help.
Answer "yes" or "no" to the following statements:
- Do you need to bid with increasing amounts of money in order to achieve the desired excitement?
- Are you preoccupied with auction houses (thinking about being online when offline, anticipating your next online session)? *********
- Have you lied to friends and family members to conceal extent of your online bidding?*********
- Do you feel restless or irritable when attempting to cut down or stop online bidding?******
- Have you made repeated unsuccessful efforts to control, cut back, or stop online bidding?********
- Do you use auction houses as a way of escaping from problems or relieve feelings of helplessness, guilt, anxiety, or depression?
- Have you jeopardized or lost a significant relationship, job, or educational or career opportunity because of online bidding?
- Have you committed illegal acts such as forgery, fraud, theft, or embezzlement to finance online activities?****************
If you answered "yes" to any of the above questions, you may be addicted to online auction houses. These are signs that you have lost control, lied, or possibly stole money just to support your bidding behavior.
Common warning signs of shopping addiction include:
- Shopping or spending money as a result of negative emotions like anger or sadness
- Thinking obsessively about money ************
- Buying certain items to improve low self-esteem**********
- Feeling a rush or euphoria when spending*********
- Buying items on credit, rather than with cash
- Feeling guilty, ashamed, or embarrassed after a spending spree **********
- Lying about or hiding how much money you spent***************
- Spending a lot of time juggling accounts or bills to accommodate spending habits
- Arguing with others about one’s shopping habits***********
Types of Shopping Addiction
Bargain-Hunting
Shopping addicts who are bargain hunters will frequently buy products they don’t need just because they’re on sale. Sometimes it’s less about the act of buying and more about the rush associated with finding the deal. This behavior can be hazardous, as it may seem the person is saving money, but they are ultimately wasting money by amassing items they’ll never use.
Collectors
When it comes to collecting compulsions, there can be a fair amount of overlap with other known issues like hoarding. However, collecting can bleed into a shopping addiction when the desire for every piece of a set or a rare item overrides financial concerns. Often collectors will want to purchase multiple versions of the same thing, whether it be every color, size, or style.
Impulse Buying
Impulsive buying typically occurs as a spur-of-the-moment reaction to seeing something you want in a shop. These instances usually aren’t planned, and the desire to buy the item can come on suddenly.
The fear of missing out or never seeing the item again can often be the driving force behind buying it. Price means nothing to impulsive shoppers; the decision to buy happens instantly, regardless of the financial consequences.
Online Shopping Addiction
With so many online stores, shopping addicts can be tempted to overspend from the privacy of their homes. Between the convenience of just clicking or tapping “Complete Purchase” and the saturation of ad-targeting across social media platforms, online shopping addiction can be challenging to treat.
Bulimic Shopping
“Shopping bulimia” has recently begun making the rounds to describe this type of shopping. Bulimic shopping occurs when someone becomes overwhelmed by the desire to buy something, but once the initial high wears off, they quickly return their purchases.
How Behavioral Addictions Work Certain behaviors can produce short-term reward responses in the brain, like sex, hitting the jackpot at the casino, or bungee jumping. The “high” individuals can experience when doing their behavior of choice develops when the brain’s pleasure center gets...