Stopping Compulsive Shopping

PALO ALTO, Calif. (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- Shopping can be fun -- and for some even a way to make them feel better -- but it can also become compulsive and addictive just like gambling. Now one drug is putting an end to the obsession for some.

Ada Spade suffered from compulsive shopping -- a clinically diagnosed impulse control disorder. "Even when the brain was telling me, 'You don't need this. You don't need to go to the store.' The rest of the body was not cooperating." She shopped every day, some for eight hours straight and spent up to $500 every week. "We tried therapy," she says. "We tried budgeting. We tried doing strictly cash. Everything we tried, it didn't last."

Stanford University Psychiatrist Elias Aboujaoude, M.D., says, "People's lives have been ruined. Their marriages have ended. They've had to declare bankruptcy."

Now, Dr. Aboujaoude has something to help Spade and others like her. He tested the antidepressant Celexa on 24 patients. "We saw a response of 71 percent in terms of patients being able to function and not be so preoccupied with this drive to shop," he tells Ivanhoe.

Celexa increases serotonin levels in the brain. That simple boost could be all it takes. Dr. Aboujaoude says: "I have seen it work miracles. I have seen it change people's lives."

Spade says it's changed hers. "It's enjoyable now, but it's not a need now. And now, she can walk out of a store empty-handed.

Doctors say compulsive shopping disorder is in the same family as kleptomania -- the impulse to steal -- and trichotillomania, which is compulsive hair pulling. Side effects of Celexa include nausea, headache, and a decreased sex drive. Researchers at Stanford are now looking at a similar type of antidepressant to determine if it can do the same thing as Celexa with fewer side effects.

This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.

If you would like more information, please contact:

M.A. Malone
Office of Communication and Public Affairs
Stanford School of Medicine
mamalone@stanford.edu