Christmas shopping: excessive or compulsive?

How to distinguish between excessive and compulsive shopping during Christmas?

Christmas is a time strongly linked to consumption, a time of the year when people indulge in extra spending.a time of year when people indulge in extra spending.

The motivation to shop at Christmas is not so much born out of necessity or pleasure (as it is at other times), but derives predominantly from a commitment to please others. In other words, we buy gifts, decorations, nougat and lottery out of habit and social pressure.

Christmas: a phenomenon associated with consumption

The French sociologist and philosopher Emile Durkheim, pointed out throughout his works the importance of ritual celebrations in integration and social cohesion. From this perspective, Christmas is accompanied by festivities that reinforce beliefs, values and, above all, commitment to the group, where the family is the main unit.

In this line, experts in neuroscience and neuromarketing highlight the role of the "emotional cloud" that pervades the atmosphere at this time of year and which plays a decisive role in encouraging purchasing behavior.

According to a study published by the British Medical Journal, the brain associates all kinds of stimuli related to Christmas with a false optimism and state of happiness in which retailers participate to encourage consumption.

Thus, brands use the smells of chestnuts, vanilla or cinnamon to set the mood in their stores, play Christmas carols to take consumers back to their childhood and decorate their spaces with lights and colors such as red and gold, which are associated with wealth, power and illusion. All these signs, added to the advertising campaigns, the effects of the offers, the immediacy of Internet shopping and the emotional meaning of Christmas, constitute the perfect breeding ground for us to "go overboard" and spend sums of money, the perfect breeding ground for us to "go overboard" and spend sums of money that, many times, are over the previously planned budget. that, many times, are over the previously planned budget.

Although Christmas is one of the periods of the year when there is massive consumption, it is also the ideal time for us to spend more money than we had previously planned. is the ideal time for mental health problems to go unnoticed, such as compulsive shopping disorder (CSD), an addiction problem that functions as an addiction to shopping.an addiction problem that works in much the same way as substance addiction.

What are the differences between excessive buying and compulsive buying?

It is important to distinguish between the compulsive shopping that manifests itself in shopaholics and the excessive shopping that occurs during the Christmas sales period..

A person's relationship with shopping behavior can be more or less problematic. A healthy shopper is one who, in general, is able to modulate his or her desire to buy. Although on special occasions (such as Christmas, Valentine's Day or a birthday) he may overspend or, although he may occasionally be carried away by his impulses, the healthy consumer is able to control himself and has a moderately functional life (shopping is not a restriction of his freedom).

However, a pathological shopper (addict) a pathological (addicted) shopper is one who is incapable of curbing his impulsivity.. He/she feels a strong loss of control when faced with the desire to acquire a good or service and organizes his/her life around the purchase.

Thus, the compulsive shopper has a relationship of dependence with the purchase, since he or she uses it as a means of compensation to deal with other problems that are hidden underneath this symptom (often anxiety, depression, eating disorders, etc.).

Thomas O'Guinn and Ronald J. Faber, expert psychologists in this field, suggest a series of qualitative differences that separate a "healthy" consumer from a "pathological" consumer. These are as follows.

1. Motivations

Healthy consumers purchase products for their functional benefits.. For example, they buy food out of necessity, purchase clothes to look better, and give gifts to strengthen their relationships.

Addicts, on the other hand, buy goods and services for the emotional effects associated with the purchase process itself.. They feel pleasure, avoid thinking about problems and unpleasant emotions, experience relief, feel companionship when interacting with store personnel, and reinforce their worth by the fact that they "can" acquire what they want. Pathological consumers buy for the sake of buying with the sole objective of benefiting from the experience.

2. Control during the buying process

Healthy shoppers tend to plan their purchases. They have an idea of what they need or want to buy and go in search of it. Although it is true that sometimes they are driven by desire and impulse, in general, control and the ability to modulate spending predominate.

Compulsive shoppers, however, buy products in an uncontrolled, impulsive manner, without measuring the consequences and often spending a lot of money. and often spend money they do not have (they often get into debt, take out bank loans or steal from their relatives). During the buying process these people feel tremendously intense emotions, such as euphoria and pleasure.

3. Product use and post-purchase consequences

At the end of the purchase of a product, healthy buyers are more or less satisfied with the product's function and either keep it and use it or return it. and either keep it and use it or return it, which has little effect on the emotional level.

Compulsive buyers tend to feel powerful emotions that can be pleasant (such as a sense of worthiness) or unpleasant (such as shame or guilt) and, in both cases, they tend to hoard and hide them, tend to accumulate them and hide them without actually using them.. It is important to understand that these people do not seek to make use of the function of the acquired items, but of the effects of going out to acquire them, i.e. the process of purchase, not the object and its function.

At the warning signs, seek professional help.

While excessive shopping can lead to a small hole in the wallet that lasts through specific dates such as Christmas, compulsive shopping is a serious psychological pathology that falls into the category of impulse control disorders and has major consequences at the intra-personal level (depression, very low self-esteem, etc.). and that has great consequences at an intra-personal level (depression, very low self-esteem, deterioration of social relationships, loss of employment, etc.) and at an inter-personal level (debts, deception, family problems, etc.).

If you think you may be suffering from an impulse control disorder associated with shopping, do not hesitate to seek professional help. If you wish, you can get more information on our website www.centrotap.es or send an email to [email protected].

Author: Laura Coronel Hernández, Health Psychologist and member of Centro TAP.

Bibliographic references:

• Hougaard, A., Lindberg, U., Arngrim, N., Larsson, H., Olesen, J., Amin, F.M., Ashina, M. y Haddock, B. (2015). Evidence of a Christmas spirit network in the brain: functional MRI study. British Medical Journal, 351 :h6266. doi: 10.1136/bmj.h6266
• O´ Guinn, T. y Faber, R.J. (1989). Compulsive buying a phenomenological explanation. Journal of Consumer Research, 16: pp. 147 - 137.