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Despite the fact that shopping addiction is not listed as a mental illness in its own right, it should be taken seriously and should never be trivialised. Thus it is based on psychological causes that indicate the urgent need for treatment. It is not scientifically clear whether buying addiction is an impulse control disorder or an obsessive-compulsive disorder. Even the question of whether there is a real addiction could still not be answered from the perspective of science, although buying addiction fulfils numerous criteria of behavioural addiction. In doing so, shopping addiction can affect anyone and does not stop at social status or educational level. Both a nurse and a successful senior physician can be affected.

Young people are supposed to be a vulnerable group because of the brand fixation and the associated status. In addition, they are far less critical in their purchasing behaviour than adults and succumb to the belief that branded products are a guarantee of quality. The trend of so-called "Haul videos" can be critical, among other things. On YouTube young people present their "haul", the English term for raid. In a video the product is presented, quality and price are introduced, evaluated and a possible purchase recommendation is pronounced. What at first appears to be completely casual can become a shopping trap for many young people. It is also not without danger that young people grow up with the increasing cashless payment system and the Internet and often lack the connection to spending money. Those who rarely physically hand over cash tend to spend money more quickly that is not available at all. It is therefore not uncommon for young people in particular to quickly fall into debt traps. Due to the fact that young people usually still live at home, however, their pathological buying behaviour is noticeable earlier than that of an adult. The parents then settle the debts that have already arisen and try to put a stop to the compulsive behaviour of their child through various measures. The extent to which these measures are crowned with success depends on how precise they are. Responsible parents try to find a therapy place for their children and try to find out the causes of shopping addiction.

It is assumed that 90% of all shopping addicts are women, whereas an American study shows that men can be affected by shopping addiction in the same way as women. Younger people also tend to be more inclined towards shopping addicts than older people. Likewise, people who live in a supposedly happy partnership can satisfy their unfulfilled desire for love through shopping addiction. As ready as the spectrum of those affected may be, some commonalities can certainly be worked out. Nevertheless, the current state of research can be expanded in terms of frequency, who is particularly severely affected, what the concrete causes are and which mechanisms are effective in the case of shopping addicts.

For example, some scientists believe that a genetic disposition can be determined. This assumption, however, is of a more general nature and aims much more at the basic nature of the character. People who have emotional instability or low self-esteem and a tendency to develop depression are more likely to develop addictions. In psychology, a biological predisposition has been found in people who suffer from addiction. In patients with this condition, the reward centre in the brain should be less pronounced. Addiction fatally activates this reward centre, releases positive feelings and, in the case of shopping addiction, is associated with shopping. Nevertheless, there is no particular personality type that necessarily suffers from addiction. This phenomenon could not be scientifically proven. Thus, people can have the above-mentioned characteristics, such as a tendency to depression or an unstable personality, without ever in their life ever coming into contact with an addiction or showing an addictive behavior. Rather, science tries to explain that under certain circumstances it may be more likely to develop an addiction. However, this case does not necessarily have to occur. In addition to these biological dispositions, social and family factors also play an important role. People whose childhood was marked by withdrawal of love or performance orientation often grow up to become less stable personalities. The danger of getting addicted is thus increased if some components come together.

For example, it is assumed that shopping addiction is always based on a reduced self-esteem. The assumed correlation between shopping addiction and the frequent occurrence among women could be explained, among other things, by a lack of self-esteem. Psychological theories assume that women and fewer men in particular suffer from low self-esteem. Possible reasons cited are that women, unlike men, make their self-esteem more dependent on the outside world. They tend not to assess their abilities and characteristics realistically. The reason for this is that women always compare themselves with an ideal and not with competitors or other people. Added to this is the often unconscious attitude towards women to adapt and to be responsible for the happiness of children and men. Combined with their own self-critical attitude and the daily tension between career and family, many women experience problems with their own self-esteem. In extreme cases, a certain tendency to fall ill with a shopping addiction cannot be ruled out. However, even men may have problems with their self-esteem due to a dominant mother, childhood bullying or family tensions. For example, men cannot be excluded in principle if one speaks of a probability of falling ill with shopping addiction.

The psychological causes of addiction to shopping can therefore be quite varied: genetics, personality, neurobiological processes in the brain that favour it, mental illnesses or stress caused either by everyday life or by strokes of fate. Why, for example, a lack of self-esteem or neurobiological processes in the brain can lead to shopping addiction, will be briefly explained at this point.

Lack of self-esteem

Since self-esteem has been mentioned several times, the causes and, above all, the consequences and possible connection with shopping addiction will be examined more closely at this point. Psychologically, self-esteem is the value that an individual ascribes to himself. In other words, self-esteem can be understood as the evaluation one gives oneself. Self-esteem is often referred to as self-respect, self-confidence or self-confidence, but it is not entirely correct. Self-confidence and self-assurance are closely linked to self-esteem, but do not have the same meaning. As a rule, self-esteem includes one's own personality, abilities, memories and feelings about oneself.

How positive or negative your self-esteem is depends on three factors. This includes comparisons with other people, feedback from the environment and the principle of self-observation. In self-observation, one's own behaviour and experience is analysed and classified. As a rule, it is set in relation to previous events and is central to one's own self-perception. In the course of life, the formation of self-esteem concentrates primarily on social comparisons and is repeatedly called into question by school changes or other upheavals. Puberty would be a fitting example of such an "identity crisis". But even the change from kindergarten to school is a change that can leave its first traces.

A reduced self-esteem can primarily be traced back to a difficult childhood. However, a low self-esteem can also burn into the body over the course of a lifetime as a result of emotional injuries. While in childhood the parents are still the central figures in the life of a child, in later years this centre of life can shift and the partner can take on the central role. Disappointments from relationships are therefore a serious component that have a massive impact on self-esteem. For this it is often sufficient to have been cheated or lied to by the partner and to have destroyed the trust lastingly. Many people then ask themselves the question "why wasn't I enough for him/her" and often completely ignore that they are not solely to blame for the failure of the relationship. Fraud in relationships can be compared to a traumatic experience in which a person had to fear for his life. The psychological consequences are correspondingly far-reaching.

If the causes lie in the childhood, it is often the lack of recognition of the parents up to indifference, an emotional neglect or the absolute opposite, overprotection and overcare. Especially children who have only been rewarded with emotional goods and not with love can be prone to shopping addiction. The rush of shopping can then serve the purpose of self-affirmation and suppress the feeling of receiving too little recognition. In childhood there was an imprint on material goods which can no longer be discarded in adulthood. For example, if a child has received a gift for good grades, the focus is on materialism. And who doesn't know from their own childhood that their parents banned video games or television as a punishment? The deprivation of material goods in childhood, like the excess, can lead to the conviction in adulthood that the focus is unnaturally placed on possessions and valuables. It has long been known that concentration on materialistic values leads to a long-term decline in quality of life. While it is essential for a happy life that basic needs are met, an accumulation of material possessions does not improve quality of life and mental well-being. It is therefore a fallacy of a shopaholic who believes that buying this garment now will make him happier. But those who concentrate on material things and put a lot of energy into shopping tours rob themselves of energy and time to take care of the central things in life.

This feeling that material possessions lead to social acceptance and more is reinforced by the interpretation of one's own society. Material objects of value, as those affected believe, play a central role in gaining recognition and affection. If those affected receive the appropriate compliments for their acquired clothing or the latest mobile phone, they are ultimately even strengthened in this perception. The self-esteem is upgraded and the affected persons are driven further into addiction in this way. Since society is increasingly focusing on these material values, it is not unlikely that buying addiction will be more strongly represented in the coming generations than it is currently the case.

Sooner or later, a lack of security, closeness and love often triggers an inner emptiness that is to be filled by the purchase of products. For example, those affected report that the arrival of packages ordered online gives them a childlike feeling of Christmas again. In this case, shopping addiction is a desperate attempt to restore the feeling of beautiful memories and love. The central role of the inner child also becomes clear in this description. In psychology, thoughts, feelings and experiences from childhood that can play an important role in experiencing and acting despite their advanced age are called inner children. Many shopping addicts are in a permanent conflict with their inner child, that is, in their case fear of rejection or withdrawal of love, and their adult self, which is marked by reason and a sense of responsibility. Psychotherapy is one way of ending one's own conflict with one's inner child and finding peace with childhood experiences and feelings.

The attention and attention that the affected person receives from the seller is also a factor that should not be underestimated. The feeling of lack of attention and devotion can be compensated in this way. For this reason, the goods already purchased are not returned. Affected people report the fear that the seller's recognition and love will be lost if they return their purchase. What is particularly striking about these descriptions is the distorted perception of those affected. The salesman does his job professionally and rarely offers his customers honest feelings of recognition or even love. The longing of those affected for attention and positive attention and the deficits that are present in their own lives become clear.

Strokes of fate

A stroke of fate can include sudden unemployment, the death of a relative or similar stressful life situations such as separation from one's long-term partner. Studies have shown that these factors have a significant influence on self-esteem in adulthood. While, for example, a breach of trust in a partnership or marriage can lead to a loss of self-esteem and thus trigger a buying addiction, stressful life situations can be unloaded by compulsive shopping. In this case, those affected try to distract themselves from their negative feelings and problems. In these cases, there must not have been a disposition for shopping addiction in the past, but those affected experience by chance that shopping makes them easier and more joyful. Once this positive experience is made, it can happen that the positive feelings want to be experienced again and a vicious circle begins.

The psychosocial consequences of unemployment are manifold. For example, those who suddenly become unemployed may feel excluded from society. Particularly in Germany, social recognition is often defined by the professional success of the individual. The fear of being considered lazy or poor plays a central role for many unemployed people. Another far-reaching factor for many unemployed people is the threat of poverty. The financial imbalance, which many find themselves in as a result of unemployment, leads to restrictions in purchasing behaviour to date and the abandonment of products or services that have so far met their own needs. In order to escape this feeling and compensate for it, excessive buying noise can occur. The motivation can be quite different. Some people may not want to accept that their financial possibilities are limited from now on. Or they try to drive away boredom by shopping tours. The role of work in everyday life is often underestimated. It cannot be denied that the profession is essential for the daily structure of many people. If these structures no longer exist, there is a danger that many unemployed people will fall into a hole and from now on opportunities will be sought to fill the day with other activities.

If an already buying addict is affected by unemployment, the symptoms of buying addiction may worsen. More drastic, however, are the financial consequences of unemployment. Both factors favour each other and lead to a deterioration of the coercive behaviour. Even people who are potentially at risk of becoming shopping addicts should pay particular attention to their buying behaviour in the event of unemployment.

If a partner dies and children are left behind, many shopping addicts with a bad conscience start buying countless products not only for themselves but also for the children. Not only the emotional gap in oneself is to be closed with it. Such behavior is a desperate attempt to make the family happy again. Here the low self-esteem shows itself again, because without the partner the affected feel a large inability to care for the common children. If this feeling is compensated by an enormous number of material goods, it can no longer be understood as normal mourning behaviour.

The aforementioned strokes of fate do not necessarily lead to someone slipping into shopping addiction. Ultimately, numerous factors determine whether buying addiction occurs at all. This can be the interplay of a low self-esteem and a possible stroke of fate, but it can also be the interaction of a low self-esteem and a possible stroke of fate in another mental illness. Depending on personality and life management strategies, difficult life situations can also not lead to a psychological imbalance at all and can be mourned and processed to a normal degree. Since behavioural addictions are primarily about learning behaviour, it is recommended that people who are affected by strokes of fate should be mindful of possible addictive substances or behavioural addictions. This includes drugs, alcohol, but also shopping or gambling. If someone in your environment is affected by a stroke of fate, it is advisable to offer help and support.

Occurrence with other diseases

In most cases, shopping addiction is linked to other illnesses or other psychological and physical symptoms occur that indicate the presence of another illness. Depression often occurs in parallel with shopping addiction. Anxiety disorders and inner emptiness are also characteristic of people with shopping addiction. Accompanying eating disorders can also occur.

The accumulation or morbid hoarding of goods can possibly lead to the well-known "Messie syndrome". Studies show that half of all shoppers have Messie syndrome at the same time. Similar to shopping addiction, this syndrome is characterized by reduced self-esteem and psychological imbalance. Nevertheless, not every sales addict necessarily has to be a Messie. Depending on personality and past, a sales addict may tend to give away or throw away his or her purchased products and thus not count as a Messie.

Inevitably, from a scientific point of view, the question arises at this point whether shopping addiction may only occur as a symptom of other mental disorders and whether it does not exist at all as an independent disease. As already mentioned, buying addiction is obviously associated with an impulse control or obsessive-compulsive disorder. However, it is argued that shopping addiction should be listed as a disease in its own right because, among other things, the neurobiological mechanisms should be clearly distinguished from an obsessive-compulsive disorder and shopping addiction could not yet be clearly assigned to the impulse control disorder.

The question also arises when shopping addiction is combined with depression, for example, which disease is the result of the other disease. Or to put it another way, what came first? Chicken or egg? However, the answer to this question is only relevant from a scientific point of view. For first aid measures and other treatments, the question of whether addiction to shopping is caused by depression or whether depression is caused by addiction to shopping is not of decisive importance. The treatment in both cases would probably differ only slightly from each other. If the shopping addiction is clearly only a symptom of a borderline disease, for example, and self-injurious behaviour occurs, the treatment should of course be adapted according to the underlying disease.

Scientists have also observed that shopping addiction is just one of the many addictions that people can have. In some circumstances, shopping addiction can go hand in hand with drug or alcohol addiction, but also with another behavioural addiction such as gambling addiction.

Hormones as cause

It is controversial whether an imbalance of serotonin and dopamine is the cause of symptoms in a shopping addiction. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that affects the central nervous system and is better known as happiness hormone. A lack of serotonin can negatively influence the mood and lead to depression. Since shopping addiction can often occur in combination with other mental illnesses such as depressive moods, an unbalanced serotonin-dopamine balance is not uncommon. Therefore, it is not possible to identify this hormonal imbalance as the sole cause of shopping addiction. However, the aim of a behavioural addiction such as shopping addiction is to compensate for an imbalance in hormones that has already arisen or has arisen as a result of the addiction.

The exact processes that take place in the brain of a shopping addict have not yet been fully clarified. However, studies have shown that, similarly to other addicts, purchasing addicts have fewer receptors in their midbrain to which messenger substances such as dopamine, which trigger feelings of happiness, can dock. The purchase of a certain product triggers the release of dopamine in the brain. The reward system of humans is misshaped with a buying addiction, since the act of purchase alone leads to the distribution of feelings of happiness. In addition, in people with addictions, due to the lack of possible docking sites for these hormones, an increased release of dopamine is necessary to contribute to a satisfying feeling of happiness. Experts describe this chemical process in the brain as "addiction memory". The reward system in the brain is given a central role and it is pointed out that it ultimately does not matter to the brain whether the increased release of dopamine and the associated euphoric effect is related to a substance or to an activity. In the case of buying addiction, psychological dependence is crucial.

While at the beginning of the addiction to buying the distribution of dopamine still leads to a longer lasting feeling of happiness, with the progression of the addiction to buying this period becomes shorter and shorter. Soon after the purchase, the person concerned falls into a depressive hole and is subject to the assumption that only a purchase will make him happy again. A vicious circle has arisen. The reason for this is that the brain has reduced the body's own release of dopamine to a minimum and has already become accustomed to the increased release of hormones resulting from the purchase. This hormonal process in the brain is responsible for the fact that the longer the affected person is suffering from addiction, the more things have to be bought. Only through this more can the intoxicating or satisfying feeling be experienced again and again.

This state is comparable with a downward turning spiral. So, the longer you suffer from shopping addiction, the more your brain gets used to the happy hormones. In order to maintain this feeling of happiness, you must therefore consume an ever higher "dose". So, every day, a shopping addict feels the need to buy even more clothes or an even more expensive car in order to trigger the surge of happiness hormones.