Retail therapy
Retail therapy is shopping with the primary purpose of improving the buyer's mood or disposition. Often seen in people during periods of depression or transition, it is normally a short-lived habit. Items purchased during periods of retail therapy are sometimes referred to as "comfort buys".
Retail therapy was first used as a term in the 1980s with the first reference being this sentence in the Chicago Tribune of Christmas Eve 1986: "We've become a nation measuring out our lives in shopping bags and nursing our psychic ills through retail therapy."[citation needed]
In 2001, the European Union conducted a study finding that 33% of shoppers surveyed had "high level of addiction to rush or unnecessary consumption".[1] This was causing debt problems for many with the problem being particularly bad in young Scottish people.
Researchers at Melbourne University have advocated its classification as a psychological disorder called oniomania or compulsive shopping disorder.[2]
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[edit] Notes
[edit] References
- Retail Therapy: Ladies Designer Fashion "West Country based ladies designer fashion at discount prices" October 4 2010 Accessed October 4 2010
- Observer "Shopping can make you depressed" May 6 2001 Accessed 20 April 2006
- Melbourne Age "Investigating retail therapy" December 5 2004 Accessed 20 April 2006
