Compulsive Buying Disorder

Psybchology disorders such as compulsive buying disorder can be explicated in a custom written research paper from the writers at Paper Masters.

American culture affirms the power of buying through a variety of venues. A study of women's compulsive buying habits display personal preferences and use material items to cue signals about how a shopper wants to be perceived. These signals are culled and interpreted from popular culture's communication through advertising and other media-delivered consumerist messages. In this way, one's identity is created through a commiseration with material goods of consumption, and therefore maintained by the continued acquisition of new, more, and better material methods to accurately convey one's identity ideals, often leading to compulsive buying disorder.

Clearly, excessive buying and spending has serious consequences, including the following:

• Economic effects through the debts that result from these behaviors.
• An American culture has been created by increasingly normalized the widespread reliance on credit and credit cards
• The maintenance of high levels of debt has likewise become the standard in American society.

Notably, compulsive spending and shopping has been identified as a distinctly female phenomenon, with a gender ratio of nine females for every male afflicted with the behavior.

The popular television show "Sex in the City" presents a classic scenario of cultural affirmations of the benefits of excessive accumulations of material goods. The main character, Carrie Bradshaw, is a successful journalist living in New York City; she and her friends are obsessed with the footwear designed by Manolo Blahnik and spend thousands of dollars on a single pair of shoes on a regular basis.

What other cultures frequently see as excessive, Americans have normalized. Closets full of unused clothing-frequently with the tags still attached-are not uncommon in American homes. The purchase of items that are thrown away without ever being put to use is also common. Clearly, American culture in its many expressions encourages excessive spending and accumulation, and places materialistic expressions of economic wellbeing at the top of Americans' priorities. Through messages sent via advertising and entertainment, America is being told that purchasing, acquiring, collecting and owning material goods are effective ways of asserting one's economic superiority and personal identity. Unfortunately, these messages have contributed to greatly debilitating hoarding in many Americans.