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The causes, the inner conflicts and problems, are still present and must be treated on a long-term basis. Therefore, it is often not sufficient to apply only the first aid measures mentioned above. The causes cannot be eliminated, but in the course of a therapy the affected person can learn which events in the past triggered the shopping addiction in the first place. Acceptance of the past, insight and the learning of new behaviours then come first. The central question that those affected must ask themselves is: WHAT am I missing? What do I try to compensate through my buying behavior? These can be affection, love, recognition, but also the lack of meaningful activity. What can I do to be satisfied with myself and my life again?

Debt due to buying addiction

EC cards, credit cards or other forms of cashless payment quickly tempt you to lose track of your finances. Buying addicts, however, not only lose the feeling of their own financial possibilities, they usually simply ignore them completely. Buying addicts are well aware that they clearly exceed their financial limits. However, this does not prevent them from doing it again and again, because they are far too absorbed by their compulsive behaviour for that. The possibility of obtaining credit or borrowing money from banks makes it easier for people with a shopping addiction to pursue their addiction. If these possibilities are exhausted, it can happen that money is borrowed from friends or family. If this is the case, the true purpose of use is concealed. The affected person increasingly gets feelings of guilt, because in this case the personal component plays an important role. He tries to suppress these feelings of guilt by shopping, which drives him further and further into the negative spiral.

A longer period of time usually elapses before the treatment of shopping addiction can be achieved. Since the people concerned have purchased far more than their financial means, a relatively large mountain of debt has accumulated over this period. Financial problems are thus one of many consequences of buying addiction. It is typical that the exact amount of debt is not even known to those affected. Because reminders and invoices are often thrown away unread.

Many people who are addicted to buying withdraw completely or, depending on their personality, can develop the fixed idea of obtaining money illegally when their money reserves have been used up or when their partner has taken their credit card and cash from them in order to stop the buying frenzy. Often they are involved in theft or drug trafficking, which sooner or later leads to legal consequences.

If bills are not paid, the affected persons may be reported for fraud under certain circumstances. In such a case, punitive circumstances due to shopping addiction must not be expected. As long as shopping addiction has not been recognised as an illness in its own right, defendants cannot hope for a reduction in punishment. However, if the addiction to shopping occurs in combination with another serious condition where the addiction to shopping only occurs as a symptom, the assessment may be different. Due to the lack of recognition of addiction and public debate on both a social and scientific level, many court experts have to impose appropriate conditions and write assessments in the event of shopping addiction. Often a stay in a forensic or closed psychiatric institution is planned.

Another difficulty that arises in the case of buying addiction: a private bankruptcy cannot be applied for if the debts occur in connection with a criminal offence. However, since many shopping addicts often have numerous advertisements from mail-order companies for fraud, the offence is in most cases committed.

In any case, it is worth accepting the help of a debt counsellor who can help you get an overview of your finances and draw up a debt reduction plan. Depending on the scope of services, the creditor then contacts the creditors and agrees repayment formalities.

Outpatient behavioural therapy

Behavioural therapy is a method in the field of psychotherapy. The method of behavioural therapy is often described as helping people to help themselves. In essence, the approach is to make the causes of the problems clear to the patient after he has seen them and how this behaviour has become entrenched in the past. However, the focus of behavioural therapy should be on providing the patient with various methods to help him solve his problems himself. Which form of behavioural therapy is used always depends on the training of the therapist. Cognitive behavioural therapy is the most common form of therapy. This is based on the assumption that problem-solving strategies have been learned wrongly, that wrong assumptions are made, and that the wrong conclusions for further behaviour are drawn from this. The aim of behavioural therapy is therefore to learn new problem-solving strategies in order to be able to cope with one's own life independently again in the long term.

In fact, behavioural therapy is a very important step for severely affected people. The deeper psychological problems, which have led to shopping addiction in the first place, can be specifically addressed and dealt with. The goal is that at some point an inner peace with one's own psychological deficits will emerge and the acceptance that problems exist, but that they can be overcome. The aforementioned conflict with the inner child can also be an issue in psychotherapy. It is highly likely that these conflicts will be discussed with the therapist when researching the causes and that the therapist will help those affected to come to terms with these early childhood experiences.

In the next step, behavioural therapy will focus on purchasing behaviour and develop an awareness of purchasing. This includes, among other things, weighing up the reasons for or against purchasing and thus avoiding unnecessary purchases. In addition, attempts are made to make one's own behaviour more transparent and to reflect on oneself. This means that the question must be asked "When do I feel the urge to go shopping? Once it is clear to the affected person in which situations he would like to go shopping in order to compensate for something, a therapist can be used exactly at this point. Once this awareness has occurred, strategies can be learned to deal with these stressful situations and not give in to the urge to buy.

The University of Erlangen has developed a therapy programme specially designed for people with shopping addictions, the effectiveness of which has been proven in studies. 50% of those affected could be cured of shopping addiction in the long term and did not relapse. The therapy is based on the assumption that the pathological buying behaviour has a disturbance in impulse control. Patients must therefore learn to understand and reflect on their behaviour. Once this has been done, the next step is to redirect. This can be, for example, sport or a particular hobby that is practised until the urge to buy something has evaporated.

Those who have focused on material reward in the past must learn to reward themselves in other ways. This can happen, for example, through sport, hobbies or some other form of self-employment.

Behavioural therapy can take place individually or be organised as group therapy. Individual discussions have the advantage over group discussions that individual problems can be better dealt with. Especially at the beginning of a therapy it is difficult for those affected to open themselves up to a stranger. In an individual therapy, the affected person is only forced to open up to the therapist, which can be a relief for many people due to shame about their problems.

In therapy, the affected person is specifically prepared for life after therapy if he or she has become aware of how his or her addiction to shopping developed at all. Emergency plans are drawn up together with the therapist in the event of a relapse. This includes, among other things, the first aid measures already mentioned. Especially at the beginning of the therapy, possible relapses must be expected. There is nothing unusual about regression in the course of therapy and it is even necessary to take a big step in the right direction. The affected person must learn to stay on the ball and not be discouraged.