Signs That You Might Have Compulsive Buying Disorder !!!
Do I have a Compulsive buying disorder (CBD)? What causes Compulsive buying disorder? Is Compulsive buying disorder an OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) or it comes naturally? We often wonder with such questions, don't we? Of course, and so, answers to these, and many other questions shall we inquire in this interesting Blog.
Oniomania, a fancy word, Yes? It is one such parallel term used to describe CBD. Practically synonymous with CBD that delivers the meaning of this behaviour more convincingly.
Onio meaning- Someone who has a compulsive and uncontrollable desire to go shopping and to procure as many things as possible.
Mania meaning- A state of super-excitement or enthusiasm.
Signs That You Might Have Compulsive Buying Disorder (Oniomania)!!!
# Philosophy
We buy things because we don't have them. We do not have them because we do not need them, or we can't afford them. We do not need them because we are satisfied with what we have, and we can't afford them, because we have bought things already we did not need!
In the end, buy things you don't need, and you will end up in a vicious loop circling around unsung unaffordability and obsessive buying.
So, NEED needs to be addressed with the conscious mind, and don't confuse it with WISH, WANT, DESIRE, and URGE. These all have unrealistic dimensions when they are used to content a human being.
Only NEED is real. In fact, that's a preventive measure!
# Understanding Oniomania/ Compulsive Buying Disorder
It is an obsessive (persistent, excessive, impulsive, and uncontrollable) behavior/ Habit of spending money and an insatiable urge to buy things, typically resulting in severe psychological, social, occupational, and financial consequences.
Well, this is pathological, too, and something that goes beyond a Shopaholic attitude (One that enjoys shopping, and if they occasionally spend more than planned, they are able to control their shopping to a greater or lesser extent). But in CBD, victims don't act rationally. Instead of doing planning, they fall for negative emotions (Guilt, regret, self-blaming) and repeat the cycle in order to uplift themselves emotionally, knowing even though this is temporary.
This in all sense is an ADDICTION to shopping, no different than smoking, alcoholism, eating disorders, or Drugs, which, according to Data is prevalent in men up to 5.5% and in women up to 6%. And interestingly, withdrawal in this case is real.
Typically, this one is a coping mechanism that raises the threshold regularly. Each time you shop, relief is less rewarding, spending is irrationally high, yet the urge is WILD.
Rational Buyer vs. Compulsive Shopping
Indulging in occasional shopping sprees or overspending sometimes doesn't make you a compulsive shopper. It is how much you are preoccupied with shopping ideas (all the time), your level of distress (Unhappy/ momentary happiness), and the severity of adverse consequences that define you as a compulsive buyer.
Elizabeth Dieter is one such example who had purchased over 100 purses in the span of four months only, the reason being- It cost 5$ only, and so, whenever she felt stressed out with her husband she would go shopping. Buy a new purse!
# What motivates compulsive buying?
A China-based study investigating the mindset of people with CBD concludes the top three common motivators of compulsive buying.
# 1 Hedonic shopping motivations
It is buying a product for emotional, fun, and experiential benefits. Largely, it is an emotionally driven behavior seeking escape from negative feelings like emotional void, loneliness, lack of control, or lack of self-esteem.
# 2 Social Comparison
It is buying a product to seek materialistic values and social recognition (Status-seeking mind). This is way more common in adults than in any other group. FOMO (Fear of missing out) plays a core role here since this behavior (Being socially comparative) is driven by fear, a common feeder of negativity, that eventually looks for hedonic pleasures. However, the only difference here is the route that comes via a backup of social comparison.
You think you won, but you lost already!
In reality, this is a self-annihilating attitude and a killer of your happiness.
# 3 Deal proneness
It is buying a product under the illusion of personal benefits, saving money, and smart shopping, which actually is the reverse. The hard-hitting truth is, that no one does business to please you and to incur losses alongside.
Buying something when truly needed rather than when it is in a deal is smart shopping. In a deal, you commonly over-purchase.
There is nothing like a clearance sale, or buying festival, or sales days, no.
Such advertisements have the capacity to press the trigger button of a victim of Oniomania effortlessly, even for a rational buyer it becomes difficult to dodge the deals. Such advertisements are so intelligently designed and offered in such a way that at the end of the day when you calculate, you would have bought things in excess and extra.
Believe it or not, there happens to be a big team of experts who curate, design, and decorate such deals, especially for Oniomaniacs.
Of course, some deals might look totally worth it, and in many instances they are, but only when you have waited enough for that without spending money already on many other deals.
Just try keeping your smartphone connected to the internet with you and for the whole day, discuss the ideas of shopping for a fairness cream with your friends, and you will see that the next day, the Artificial intelligence in your smartphone will flood your social media with insane deals and advertisements of a Fairness cream.
This is what happens with Oniomaniacs. This is scary, isn't it?
# Signs that suggest you might be an Oniomaniac or CBD victim!
No wonder you might have started doing self-study on as if you are a CBD victim or not? But hey! Don't judge yourself too early. Prevalence of Oniomaniacs is up to 6% only, and you might be in 94%. So, go through this list of signs that will educate you enough on this subject.
# 1 Buying in secrete
Why would someone buy in secret? Only to avoid conflict, shame, reprimand, and judgments, yes? Well, shopping isn't a crime, and so there shouldn't be anything like mentioned here. So, if you are buying in secret just to bypass these all, then yes, it is a sign!
# 2 Lying about purchases
When you lie, it is a sign of wrongdoing since truth hurts nobody. If this wrongdoing is consistent with your shopping, which you did intentionally and willingly, then yes, it is a sign! Rational shopping needs no lying.
# 3 Spending more than you afford
One mistake is fine when you shopped more than you made, but when this is repeated on a regular basis (Each time) with all the insight and knowledge of consequences, it clearly is an obsession with no U-turn, then yes, it is a sign! Earn to live not to shop.
# 4 Buying to feel better
This is pathological and is directly related to your mental saneness. As a matter of fact, there are countless ways to feel better or stay happy, in fact, they are totally free and effortless, but when you choose shopping every single time as the easiest way over other options, you tangle yourself into a loop of sadness-solace-shopping-sadness.
# 5 Satiating withdrawal symptoms
As mentioned already, this is an addiction, and withdrawal from it is inevitable. In between shopping, the symptoms may vary from easy agitation, constant irritability, unknown anxiety, and unprovoked anger to a severe worsening of an already existing underlying mental condition. So if you are feeling any of these in between your shopping, then yes, it is a sign!
#6 Surging conflicts
Shopping is a rejoicing activity, yes, and brings harmony to one and the people surrounding, but when the same activity lacks agreement and breaks out as conflict, which intensifies with every purchase signals that you are losing control. So, if your shopping is unanimously unharmonious, then yes, it is a sign!
# 7 Preoccupation
It is when you wake up in the morning with the thoughts of shopping, you keep talking about shopping with everyone regardless of their interests, your activities are shopping-centric, you have developed an ideology about shopping, all these, to your to-do-list of the night ending with shopping bullets is the preoccupation. It may vary from a milder version of you to a completely isolated personality. Even after a shopping episode, if you are glued to this varying routine, then yes, it is a sign!
# 8 Endless research
You feel weak unless you are doing research on shopping- endless scrolling on shopping applications, comparing prices, in fact making notes, googling every other site, clicking on ads without fail, extensively searching for the best deals, and still not satisfied. Research for an hour is still sane but for hours is beyond stability. So, if the digital well-being of your smartphone is showing you the shopping application as the top-most used application of the day regularly, then yes, it is a sign!
# 9 Shopping guilt
Amongst all, this one is the most confirmatory sign, in fact, predictor of falling into the category of CBD, that you already are or will certainly become a victim of CBD. There is no way rational shopping can send you the feeling of guilt, it always makes you happy. But, if your shopping is making you feel guilty every time, then yes, it is a sign! In a nutshell, you never doubt what you shopped if it wasn't compulsive.
# 10 Overspending, yet ignoring consequence
A rational buyer will never overspend, a shopaholic might overspend but sometimes only, but an Oniomaniac will overspend 9 times out of 10. This always has been a characteristic of victims of CBD. Despite being aware of the last unpaid bill, you generate new and bigger ones, and this is repeated over time. You never carry a note about what to buy, you never have a budget, and you know you have overspent only when you see the bill.
Your bills are piling up, your relations are at stake due to financial mischief, and you are cutting the budget on all your commodities just to shop, then yes, it is a sign!
# Insight for Phraseitup ð
Inside of us, there either is a rational buyer, a shopaholic, or an Oniomaniac. But most of us are earlier two, and the way to the third one is wide open. What decides if we would be an Oniomaniac or not is a subtle need-based approach and a clear state of mind. Otherwise, the repercussions of cheap happiness are detrimentally costly.
So, first, earn to save, save to spend, spend to shop, but shop to live only...
So, decide for yourself: Who you are? A rational buyer? A shopaholic? or An Oniomaniac?
# And yes, there are tips to deal with CBD. If you wish to know further, comment in the comment section, and phraseitup will bring it to you with another blog on How to deal with CBD?
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