{"id":1000,"date":"2011-12-05T08:00:23","date_gmt":"2011-12-05T13:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/doinglifetogether\/?p=1000"},"modified":"2012-03-03T11:38:37","modified_gmt":"2012-03-03T16:38:37","slug":"signs-of-compulsive-shopping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2011\/12\/signs-of-compulsive-shopping.html","title":{"rendered":"Signs of Compulsive Shopping"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><em>&#8221; I can&#8217;t believe we owe this much money on our credit cards from the holidays! What happened? This debt will take months to pay off and has put us in serious financially trouble.&#8221; &#8221; I&#8217;m sorry. I guess I spent a little too much. I didn&#8217;t mean to put us in debt.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">Shopping can be the seasonal balm for those who are depressed, lonely and \/or anxious during the holidays. The harsh reality of the consequences of such action hits hard in January when credit card bills begin to arrive. Other times of the year, shopping is the activity engaged in to numb out feelings of angry, depression and loneliness. It serves as a momentary pick-me-up but ends in depression, financial hardship and relationship problems.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">If you or someone you know tends to buy things that can&#8217;t be paid for or purchase items that are completely unnecessary, here are possible warning signs that compulsive shopping may be involved.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">1) Shop when you are emotionally upset.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">2) Feel a &#8220;high&#8221; or rush when you purchase things<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">\u00a0\u00a0 3) Compulsively buy certain items like shoes, kitchen towels, etc.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">\u00a0\u00a0 4) Experience financial hardship as a result of too much buying.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 5) Argue with others over your spending habits.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">\u00a0 6) Don&#8217;t use purchased items.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">\u00a0\u00a0 7) Feel out of control when spending.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">\u00a0\u00a0 8) Spend too much time juggling accrued bills.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">\u00a0\u00a0 9) Accrue an unmanageable credit card debt.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">\u00a0 10) Intend to buy one or two items but buy many more.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">If you need help with Compulsive Shopping, click on Strategies to Break Compulsive Shopping in tomorrow&#8217;s blog.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8221; I can&#8217;t believe we owe this much money on our credit cards from the holidays! What happened? This debt will take months to pay off and has put us in serious financially trouble.&#8221; &#8221; I&#8217;m sorry. I guess I spent a little too much. I didn&#8217;t mean to put us in debt.&#8221; Shopping can&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":419,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[925],"tags":[135,685,682,687,689,683,304,690,688,686,684],"class_list":["post-1000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mintle-mentions","tag-anxiety","tag-buying","tag-compulsive-shopping","tag-compulsive-behavior","tag-credit-card-bills","tag-debt","tag-depression","tag-holiday-spending","tag-loneliness","tag-shopping","tag-spending-money"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Signs of Compulsive Shopping<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2011\/12\/signs-of-compulsive-shopping.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Signs of Compulsive Shopping\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&#8221; I can&#8217;t believe we owe this much money on our credit cards from the holidays! What happened? This debt will take months to pay off and has put us in serious financially trouble.&#8221; &#8221; I&#8217;m sorry. I guess I spent a little too much. I didn&#8217;t mean to put us in debt.&#8221; Shopping can&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2011\/12\/signs-of-compulsive-shopping.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Doing Life Together\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-12-05T13:00:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-03-03T16:38:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda Mintle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@drlindamintle\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Signs of Compulsive Shopping","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2011\/12\/signs-of-compulsive-shopping.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Signs of Compulsive Shopping","og_description":"&#8221; I can&#8217;t believe we owe this much money on our credit cards from the holidays! What happened? This debt will take months to pay off and has put us in serious financially trouble.&#8221; &#8221; I&#8217;m sorry. I guess I spent a little too much. 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Dr. Linda\u2019s fun personality and expertise comes through whether she\u2019s helping her audience stress less or make peace with their thighs! Dr. Linda has her Ph.D. in Urban Health and Clinical Psychology and is a national expert on mental health. She has specialized in the treatment of eating disorders, anxiety, depression and pain management. With 30 years of clinical experience working with couples, families and individuals, she brings her common-sense approach to people who want to live in positive mental health. Dr. Linda is also a bestselling author with 21 book titles to her credit, a radio host of the Dr. Linda Mintle show, professor, national speaker, winner of the Mom\u2019s Choice Award, a national news consultant, featured writer for Beliefnet and hosts her own website. Her academic appointments keep her abreast of current research in her areas of expertise. Her media experience includes seven years as the resident expert for ABC Family\u2019s Living the Life television show and regular appearances on network television and radio. It is often said that being with Dr. Linda is like having coffee with a friend. She makes the complicated issues of relationships and mental health easy to understand and applicable to everyday living. The ease she has with people, coupled with her clinical training and experience makes her a sought-after speaker on college campuses, conferences and special events. Whether she is doing a TV skit with Tim Conway or discussing teen violence with Queen Latifa, Dr. Linda will entertain, educate and integrate faith and mental health in everyday living. 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