CONSUMPTION AS A DRUG: why we buy what we don’t need

Photo by Bruno Kelzer on Unsplash

From China to Brazil, from Australia to Germany — a vast number of people have become addicted to senseless and relentless shopping. This is largely driven by companies that employ gamified strategies.

TRAPPED BY COMPULSIVE RITUALS

ompulsive behavior is not uncommon in the modern world. The English word «compulsive» comes from the Latin compello — «to compel». When a person tries to escape a reality that causes psychological discomfort, they become a hostage to various obsessive rituals. Their main trait is excessiveness.

Compulsive rituals can include shopping addiction, bulimia, or an excessive obsession with cleanliness and order. By engaging in such behaviors, a person attempts to push pain and anxiety out of their life to relieve internal tension. Most readers are probably familiar with the expression «stress eating».

Compulsive rituals, fueled by a constant sense of «incompleteness», «mess», or «lack of something», begin to demand more and more time and space. This is how «compensatory shopping» can easily turn your apartment into a graveyard of useless things.

When you unwittingly become a «professional shopaholic», your craving for purchases becomes barely conscious, virtually uncontrollable, and can lead to gaping holes in your budget — among other unpleasant consequences.

THE GLOBAL CONSUMPTION EPIDEMIC

Scientists believe that compulsive shopping has probably existed for as long as money and markets themselves. The phenomenon of krankhafte Kauflust — a pathological urge to shop — was described by German psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin as early as 1899. But since then, the situation has worsened dramatically, far beyond humorous anecdotes about women with an insatiable passion for shopping.

Research shows that modern men are just as susceptible to compulsive consumption as women. The reason lies in the explosive growth of e-commerce. There are likely few people left who haven’t heard of Amazon, Shein, or Temu. Yet, the main threat does not come from these online platforms.

The problem lies in the strategies they use to sell goods online. Last year, for instance, the European Commission warned of «risks associated with the addictive design» of the Temu platform.

Anna Lembke, a psychiatrist at Stanford University, points out that the internet has essentially turned harmless and fairly ordinary shopping into a global «addiction» epidemic.

BETWEEN ALCOHOLISM AND GAMBLING ADDICTION

In studying consumer behavior across the U.S., Turkey, Poland, Germany, India, Brazil, South Korea, and Pakistan, researchers classified nearly one-third of students as compulsive buyers. Particular concern is growing over the situation in China.

According to Heping He, who researches marketing strategies at Shenzhen University, 29.1% of Chinese citizens suffer from compulsive consumption. He is sounding the alarm and advocating for this addiction to be given an official medical diagnosis.

As of now, neither the International Classification of Diseases nor the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) includes such a disorder. This is due to a lack of scientific consensus regarding its causes.

Some view it as a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Others consider it an addiction that activates the brain’s reward system in the same way as alcohol or drugs. An increasingly popular view likens compulsive shopping to a form of gambling disorder.

That latter condition, in fact, was officially included and described in detail in the fifth edition of the DSM, published in 2013.

A DOPAMINE HIT TO YOUR WALLET AND MIND

The development of shopping addiction follows the classic pattern seen in other types of addiction. Initially, people shop for fun or to solve a problem; later, they begin using shopping as a way to cope with anxiety, depression, loneliness, or boredom.

If it proves effective, the compulsive ritual is repeated until it actually «rewires» the brain. At the Charlotte Fresenius University of Applied Sciences, researchers scanned the brains of 18 individuals who sought help for shopping addiction. When shown images of shopping malls, products, and bags, their dopamine reward system in the striatum was activated — the same response seen in drug addicts.

Dopamine gradually weakens the control system in the prefrontal cortex until a person loses the ability to regulate their buying behavior. The role of dopamine is also indirectly confirmed by data from the treatment of Parkinson’s disease.

After receiving high doses of dopaminergic medications, patients frequently displayed wildly inappropriate consumer behavior — such as wearing three gold necklaces at once, buying hundreds of pocket watches, or acquiring dozens of old, unusable cars.

NO PILL FOR THE DISORDER

In 2021, 138 experts from 35 countries proposed ending the scientific debate by adopting the term «compulsive buying disorder». However, not everyone agreed. The term implies that a person either has the diagnosis or does not. In reality, the picture is much more complex: this is a spectrum disorder — much like alcoholism.

For some, alcohol dependence may be mild; for others, it leads to catastrophic consequences. A 2020 Swiss study found that in a sample of 1,000 people, only 3% were truly addicted to online shopping, while another 11% were at risk.

Let’s not forget that for 100% of people, shopping will, to some extent, activate the brain’s reward system. The difficulty lies in the fact that there is no pill for compulsive shopping. The only empirically proven treatment method is cognitive-behavioral therapy.

CONSUMER STIMULI UNDERMINE SELF-CONTROL

The primary tool for preventing compulsive consumption remains the configuration of the retail environment, which can trigger or exacerbate problematic shopping behavior. In the pursuit of profit, websites, and apps actively undermine users’ ability to exercise self-control. A wide array of techniques contribute to this effect — integrating shopping with social media, offering «bonus» points, spinning discount wheels, countdown timers, installment plans, and more.

Another dangerous «innovation» in online shopping is the loot box — an addictive blend of shopping and gambling embedded in some video games. Their impact is overwhelming for many individuals, even though loot boxes have thus far avoided the regulatory scrutiny applied to slot machines.

Technological innovations in online business are advancing far faster than research and regulation. Anna Lembke notes with regret that modern societies are far more inclined to adopt measures that encourage consumption than to take steps toward preventing the destructive consequences of shopping addiction.

As a result, millions of people remain trapped in a consumer treadmill, repeatedly pressing the dopamine button in their brains.

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