For a nation whose economy rests on consumption, retail therapy—the notion that shopping lifts spirits—offers the ultimate double ticket: sales, combined with brief relief to the daily stressors. But, as the shopping season is upon us, will the plentiful purchasing make our time merry and bright or end up summoning our inner depressed scrooge?
National Distraction
It’s no surprise that cruising the mall can temporarily boost our mood. Brain researchers have shown that shopping excites the brain’s reward center, resulting in a release of feel-good chemicals. One of these chemicals, dopamine, is involved in emotional responses, pleasure, and pain. It is also one of the neurotransmitters involved in drug addiction and compulsive behavior. As we dig through the holiday bargain bins and hunt down the perfect tea towel for mom, a surge of dopamine can make us feel giddy, even high. And it’s not even the material good that necessarily brings the joy—it’s often simply the anticipation of the find.
The rush makes us feel good and it also may explain why, when people are down in the dumps, they’re willing to spend more on themselves. A study published in the June 2008 issue of Psychological Science looked at thirty-three volunteers and found that sadness can lead to more self-centered thinking, and this can lead to a willingness to spend more money on themselves.
The authors of the study concluded that even a temporary sadness can result in buying expensive items as a way to try to boost self-esteem. Shopping can also be used as a distraction, a way of taking people’s minds off what’s troubling them. As America’s number-one pastime, shopping, like excess drinking or eating, is a mode of self-medication.
Buyer’s Remorse
Shopping may temporarily ease our burdens, but it can also lead to some serious missteps. Impulse buying or purchasing items that we don’t really want or need are some of the outcomes. And when the dopamine has worn off, the high and feelings associated with it are gone.
For the casual weekend mall-goer, the dopamine rush may be worth it. But for those who have oniomania—the compulsive or obsessive desire to shop—the addiction is much more like compulsive eating, drug abuse, or alcoholism. The shopping can be life consuming and the results—debt, shame, guilt, or bankruptcy—detrimental.
