There is an interesting phenomenon going on in our American culture these days, centered around shopping. This is the idea of “retail therapy,” a popular notion that when you’re feeling blue, shopping is a great pick-me-up. In fact, the term oversimplifies and minimizes the serious problem of a shopping addiction. Additionally, it suggests that shopping actually works as therapy, and that numbing your pain with retail therapy is an option instead of actually dealing with it. On mugs, t-shirts, calendars, and all around us there are “cutesy” quotes about shopping, further emphasizing the view that a shopping addiction doesn’t have to be taken seriously. In reality, that couldn’t be farther from the truth.
Read the entire article here: Retail Therapy is a Ruse
Carrie Rattle is a Principal at BehavioralCents.com, a website for women focused on mind and money behaviors. She has worked in the financial services industry for 20+ years and hopes to inspire women to better prepare themselves for financial independence.