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Shopaholics Trying to Buy Self-Esteem

Posted Aug 2, 08 11:39 AM CDT in World Arts & Living Science & Health 

(Newser) – Shopaholics crave the self-esteem boost they get from interaction with retail staff far more than the actual goods they buy, new research shows. Psychiatrists believe the findings will lead to a new course of therapy, rather than the usual treatment of prescribing antidepressants, Deutsche Welle reports. The disorder affects up to 10% of Western consumers, researchers say, and can destroy lives.

The trick is to make shoppers aware that they're craving the praise of store clerks and to help them find other ways to boost self-worth. "Their conscious minds know, of course, that these people only want to make a commission on a sale," a researcher explained. "But their subconscious minds enjoy being treated as a special somebody."
Source: Deutsche Welle (Germany)

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A shopper visits Macy's in Aventura Mall, Florida, Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2007.   (AP Photo/Mitchell Zachs)
Shoppers ride an escalator at the South Shore Plaza shopping mall, in Braintree, Mass., Thursday, Sept. 6, 2007.   (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Shoppers walk in front of a shoe store at a shopping mall in San Francisco, Thursday, July 31, 2008.   (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
In this June 3, file photo, Helena Karlsson, of Norrkoping, Sweden, shops at Steve & Barry's clothing store in New York.   (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, file)
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Shopping addicts get a real kick out of the interaction they have with store personnel. Their fragile egos are given a tremendous boost by sales people who fawn over them. - Astrid Mueller, German researcher who wrote the study

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