do you agree or disagree with the following statements? State why

Although shopping addiction is not officially diagnosed within the DSM-5 (Ascher & Levounis, 2014, p.180), there are things that individuals can look for in assessing behaviors synonymous with a shopping addiction diagnosis. Some of those behaviors might be preoccupation or fixation on the idea of shopping, increased mood related to purchasing, excessive time and money spent on shopping, and feelings of guilt and shame associated with shopping. The fixation on shopping is expressed in the idea of tolerance. Smith (2015) explains this as the idea that in order to obtain the same degree of satisfaction received when they purchase items, individuals have to increase the quantity spent on subsequent purchases (p.284). The mood while shopping could also be an indicator of whether the individual might teeter on oniomania. Ascher & Levounis (2014) point to conclusions in research indicating that there were quite a few negative emotions associated with individuals before they went shopping and after they completed their spree, they expressed positive emotions which juxtaposed these previous feelings. These four behaviors indicate a possibility for shopaholism because they express the inherent fixations that could lead to addiction.

Shopping addiction might not have a standardized set of treatments due to its lack of notoriety in the psychological community, but there are measures to aid an individual struggling in this manner. Similar to other addictive disorders, the use of medication and therapy seem to be the best means of treatment. The goal of pharmacological intervention would be to even out the elated impact of the shopping experience by managing the release of serotonin in the brain, but research has found drugs inhibiting this serotonin to be met with mixed results (Ascher & Levounis, 2014, p.182). Therapy could take place in both an individual or group setting. It appears that group therapy is the most effective method for shopping addiction treatment because it helps mitigate the feelings of loneliness and intercept negative thought patterns (Smith, 2015, p. 287). It is evident in these treatment options that there is hope for those suffering from shopping addiction.