oniomaniac

Oniomania (from Greek onios = "for sale," mania = insanity[1]) is a medical term for the compulsive desire to shop. Oniomania is the technical term for the compulsive desire to shop, more commonly referred to as compulsive shopping, compulsive buying, shopping addiction or shopaholism. First described by Bleuler in 1915, and then Kraepelin in 1924, as oneomania from the Greek oneomai, to buy, included among other pathological and reactive impulses, compulsive buying went largely ignored for nearly sixty years. Contents [hide] 1 Disorders 2 Symptoms 3 Causes 4 Consequences 5 Self help groups 6 See also 7 Further reading 8 References //

Disorders

Psychiatrists often call oniomania a disorder, but it has only been accepted as a disorder by the Deutsche Gesellschaft Zwangserkrankungen (German organization for obsessive-compulsive disorders), for several years[2]. In the United States, impulsive-compulsive buying behavior may be diagnosed as an Impulse-Control Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified in the DSM-IV-TR.[3] It may be under consideration for inclusion as a separate specific Impulse-Control Disorder in the next edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

Only in the past twenty years has specific and persistent inquiry into the disorder occurred. Although the study of compulsive buying is still in its infancy compared with some of its psychological siblings—alcoholism, eating disorders or drug abuse—there is more and more evidence that it poses a serious and worsening problem, one with significant emotional, social, occupational, and financial consequences. As many as 8.9 percent of the American population may be full-fledged compulsive buyers. (Ridgway, et al., 2008), and the problem is fast becoming a global one.

The terms compulsive shopping, compulsive buying, and compulsive spending are often used interchangeably, but the behaviors they represent are in fact distinctly different (Nataraajan and Goff 1992). However, one may buy without shopping or certainly shop without buying. Most current researchers use the term compulsive buying and subscribe to an exceptionally specific definition proposed by McElroy and her colleagues (1994) as follows:

1. Compulsive buying is a maladaptive preoccupation with buying or shopping, or maladaptive buying or shopping impulses or behavior, as indicated by either: frequent preoccupation with buying or impulses to buy that is/are experienced as irresistible, intrusive, and/or senseless, or frequent buying items that are not needed or cannot be afforded or shopping for longer periods of time than intended.

2. The buying preoccupations, impulses, or behaviors