ABSTRACT

Compulsive shopping is one particular manifestation that illustrates the process and content of money symptoms gone awry. The addictive process of compulsive shopping can be differentiated from other, related problems associated with money, such as revenge spending, money addiction, the inability to enjoy money or acquire money consistent with one’s potential. The psychoanalytic study of compulsive shopping and buying has attracted relatively little attention throughout most of the twentieth century, with the exception of a few psychoanalysts and independent research groups who presented case studies. There are several psychoanalytic viewpoints of addiction and their interventions that are relevant to our understanding and treatment of compulsive shopping. They can be roughly categorized into the following four areas that help to understand and treat shopping compulsions: affect regulation and management; the somatization of affect and psychosomatic illness; limited access to fantasy, play, and symbolization; and unique characteristics of the transference-countertransference in treatment.