Compulsive Gambling – A Closer Look
By: Adam Kessler, LPC
Compulsive spending, though not categorized as a disorder by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, can still prove to be a major issue for some people. It can be impairing and get worse over time. Compulsive spending can be defined as an irresistible urge to buy something or spend money.
Even if someone has the resources to actually make the purchase, it can still be categorized as compulsive if: making the purchase (or not) causes distress, if that purchase is not a “need” and is more of a “want” and the “wants” are taking priority leading to things going unused, and spending the little to no money someone might have to actually make that purchase.
Compulsive spending can be impacted by environment as well, especially in a big city like Chicago where there are so many shopping and food options to spend money at. Chain stores to small businesses in and out of the Magnificent Mile can certainly be tempting for people seeking that “high” of a compulsive purchase, so I am going to break down five signs of compulsive spending in this article. Bringing awareness to these signs can help you combat your compulsive spending, or even make you aware of it in the first place if it is something that has gone unnoticed.
Sign 1: Irresistible Urge to Buy Something/Spend Money
This is arguable the defining characteristic of compulsive spending, as a “compulsion” is defined as an irresistible urge to act or behave in a certain way. Being aware of this urge and recognizing it is going to be the first step in acknowledging compulsive spending.
If you are curious about your spending habits, ask yourself if you have ever had an irresistible urge to buy something. However, we have all likely had a feeling at some point in our lives in which we had an urge to buy something. Per Granero et al. 2016, however, the difference between that and actual compulsive spending is that someone who spends compulsively does so despite “severe psychological, social, occupational, financial consequences.” So, while we all may have an urge to buy something from time to time, make sure to be aware of your state of being after the purchase. Do you see any consequences as a result of the purchase?
Sign 2: “Want” vs “Need”
Compulsive spending can often come from a place of wanting something instead of actually needing it. This might be trickier for people to be aware of, because there are instances in the compulsive purchase decision making process where someone will think they “need” something in the moment.
What comes after is important to differentiating these two. Try to look for patterns after the purchase in terms of use. If you find consistency in terms of actually utilizing the purchases, then it was very likely a necessary or useful purchase. However, if you notice a pattern of consistently not using your purchases and they just sit around not being used or even looked at, then your purchases are likely rooted in compulsion.
Sign 3: Means of Coping
Sometimes compulsive spending is used as a means to ease a negative psychological state. Chasing that “high” of a new purchase can sometimes bring people immediate relief through satisfaction of a purchase. This “high” I allude to is the dopamine response our body has to positive experiences in our lives. Dopamine is released to reinforce positive feelings in ourselves in intimate relationships, drug use, validation, friendships, and addictions.
Whether dopamine is reinforcing a healthy or unhealthy habit or experience, it is a strong connection that our body makes. So to fuel that release of dopamine each time someone compulsively spends will only reinforce each instance of purchasing something and further increasing the urge the next time around.
Since people have various means of getting that dopamine response as mentioned, healthy or unhealthy, compulsive spending is just one of those avenues for dopamine. Bringing this to one’s awareness and just knowing that there is going to be an urge to an extent, even if they feel like they have made progress, is important because this is a physical addiction that time needs to work on.
The body will need to readjust to not having that dopamine being released. So in the meantime, it is important to try and find other healthier means of coping if compulsive spending was your go-to.
Sign 4: Guilt
More often than not, compulsive spenders will experience feelings of guilt after purchasing. However, this feeling of guilt is not enough to deter the spenders from repeating the habit again. Building upon the previous signs, the dopamine response, wanting something, and all this feuling the irresistible urge make the feeling of guilt powerless in this situation.
In fact, one might find themselves compulsively spending again to ease this feeling of guilt, entering a vicious spending cycle. This is a very important cycle to be aware of because of how hard it can be to break. Being aware of the cycle and other signs of compulsive spending give you the best chance of breaking the cycle.
Also, if you are aware of this guilt, try to differentiate the times where you are feeling guilty versus when you aren’t, because this can start the process of helping you differentiate purchases that you make that are warranted necessary versus those that aren’t.
Sign 5: You’re in Denial
This might seem like the simplest of all the signs but it is the most crucial. If you are in denial about your maladaptive habits and spending patterns, then the process of overcoming the compulsive spending will be all but impossible. If you are experiencing all of these signs of compulsive spending and at the end of the day are still denying it, then this can have serious consequences on your life.
To continue to unhealthily cope, spend money you don’t have, chasing the dopamine high in an unhealthy way, and straining relationships in your life with others and yourself can make living day by day extremely difficult.
Denial can also lead to things like credit card debt, strained relationships, and difficulty buying everyday things like hygiene products or food. It might be difficult to see it getting that extreme, but that is the danger of denial because one unhealthy spending habit can have a snowball effect on the rest of one’s life.
Be aware of these signs and any other hunches about a potentially unhealthy spending pattern you might be experiencing. As mentioned, denial is an especially dangerous one because a lack of acknowledgment of the problem will lead to more problems to come.
Even once someone accepts their struggle, it can still be difficult due to things like the dopamine response/high that might have been chased throughout the process. Hopefully these signs will help you overcome the evertempting environment that Chicago has to offer its residents and visitors. Of course, everyone deserves a treat once in a while and Chicago has plenty of treats. We all have things that we want from time to time. But if you see these signs showing up in your life and the treats turn more into a regular thing and a pattern, then be real with yourself and try to ensure that you are spending as responsibly as possible.
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References
Granero, R., Fernández-Aranda, F., Mestre-Bach, G., Steward, T., Baño, M., Pino-Gutiérrez, A.
D., Jiménez-Murcia, S. (2016). Compulsive Buying Behavior: Clinical Comparison with Other Behavioral Addictions. Frontiers in Psychology, 7. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00914
