29.03.2024

Shopping soothes, but not all and not always

For anybody not a secret that shopping (and not so important, the final chord in the form of a new dress or not) can make us feel good. And while some of it exhausting and tiring, others, like athletes who run a marathon at some moments opened a “second wind”, enabling them to make even more purchases.

Despite the fact that official sources nothing of the kind could not work, psychologists often talk about shopping as about rilal therapy, implying that for some, it can be an effective way of solving mental problems.

As someone who actually likes to go shopping, returns home not just with a package of things that raises him up, but with a sense of tasks accomplished and comfort from the fact that the goal was achieved.

Control, socialization, and self-love

Comments for Refinery29 psychotherapist Amy Morin (Morin Amy) says that shopping, actually, can be a great mechanism to overcome a whole list of disorders. Not least because it allows love and gratitude to treat yourself.

“When we go shopping, we imagine, as we put on a new suit to work or dress for a date, imagine how we use the night cream which now hold in our hands, and as our skin gets better and better… When we do all this, we feel truly happy. The secret is that you do not even have to buy a suit, dress or cream to experience this momentum,” she explains.

Experts in the field of mental health agree that shopping makes you feel better because that allows at least some time at least any area of your life to keep under control. “When life is chaotic, it destabilizie even the strongest of people. But the shopping trip, even in a situation of complete chaos, suggests the stuff and buy it – nothing more,” adds Maureen. She emphasizes that a sense of control in this case, of course, false, but it nevertheless works to the benefit.

The third bonus, which provides us with shopping, socialization. Even if a person goes shopping alone, he in any case have to leave home to go to metro or bus to the Mall and spend some time.

When therapy is not working

A 2011 study published in the journal Psychology and Marketing, showed that retail therapy is able to cope with stressful overload and bad mood, at least in the short term. Although the researchers warn that buying in a bad mood are often impulsive, so think several times whether you need this thing, before heading to the cashier.

It is also important to understand that shopping will never replace real therapy, if we’re not talking about the state of “all Madden”, but about mental disorders. “Many people are disappointed that the item that they bought, does not bring them happiness that they expected,” says Amy Morin. This, according to her, may be the cause of the loss of interest in life and work. A separate item are purchases made outside the financial plan, which can cause even more stress.

So, if you feel that you are using shopping as an escape from loneliness or struggle with anxiety, try to substitute for it other, not less effective in this sense, activity. “Exercise, meditation and even reading books – all this, studies show, works fine. But if you all want to meet less frequently for coffee with friends, if you don’t entice the things that fascinated early and if you understand that you don’t even want to get out of bed in the morning (and it lasts more than a couple of weeks), you will obviously, it’s time to talk to a specialist,” concludes Morin.

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