Compulsive Spending: Causes, Consequences, and Solutions Dangerously Addictive by Peter Whybrow - Article Example

Running Head: Article Critique Compulsive Spending: Causes, Consequences, and Solutions An Article Critique/Reflection Paper of Professor Date of Submission Dangerously Addictive by Peter Whybrow The ‘free market’ has been revered for the past century or so as an ideology instead of human social evolution’s natural outcome. The immigrant principles of discretion, frugality and community concern of America, under the charm of this ideology and the deceitful assurance of instant possessions, have been taken over by an intense self-centeredness. That human beings are pleasure seekers driven by interest is not astonishing to behavioral neuroscience. Burdening the primeval reward routes of the brain with unnecessary stimulation, through limitless options, new experience, or drugs- will set off unquenchable and yearning desire. When craving is lost it becomes a depression, and regarded as a disorder. However, when the reward routes of the brain are burdened or unregulated, then craving can become an addictive insatiability that invites rationality and executive analysis. Capitalism’s pioneer and Scottish philosopher of the eighteenth century, Adam Smith, claimed that instinctual self-centeredness within the joint market structure would generate a free economic structure. At present, the binds that granted us the lasting allegory of an ‘invisible hand’ by Adam Smith stabilizing market performance, have been undermined by a disturbing mercantilism that refuses to cease. I think this article gave me some idea on how to develop a transformed and improved self-awareness, to control my addictive attempting and to go beyond an instant reward to build an enthusiastic, sustainable and rational buying or spending behavior. I learned here that profit and technology should not be used for the gratification of self-interest but instead to achieve a good life. On Compulsive Shopping and Spending by D. Krueger Individuals who buy compulsively regularly have individual histories that comprise, ironically, immoderation and/or deprivation. Habitually the individual will reveal childhood experiences of ungratified needs for respect, confidence, protection, and nurturance. Case reports of addictive buyers usually consist of a history that indicates material things, such as money or rewards, were used as a means to make up for emotional deficit or absence. Treatment for compulsive buyers will frequently entail a combination of medication, psychotherapy, and behavioral limitations. Because spending is undisciplined or unrestrained, compulsive buyers should be eager to relinquish their credit cards and, in a number of instances, be eager to have quite restricted access to money. Compulsive buying usually exists alongside other problematic means of satisfying feeling of purposelessness; sexual activity or food overindulging may also be well-known indications. Depression can be a prompt for the buying and an effect of it. Psychotherapy will concentrate on the early determinants that generated the emotional states for which the buying balances. Therapy also concentrates on techniques to avoid further occurrences of compulsive buying. An excellent assessment of the treatment’s success is whether the patient can endure the limitations and dissatisfactions throughout the treatment without spending, or using other means to ‘buy’ self-esteem. I learned in this article that alleviating addictive buying is a matter of personal choice or determination and psychological support from professionals. It is very difficult to overcome the impulse to spend especially when there is no personal motivation or purpose to do so. Addictive Buying Most studies on addictive buying has recognized different social, psychological and biological weakness factors that clarify how some individuals transform from occasional spontaneous spending to a compulsive behavior of buying. Individuals who use their credit cards up to the maximum limit and ‘shop ‘till they drop’ frequently have addictive buying behaviors. They think that if they buy they will feel good about themselves or they will feel better. Compulsive spending commonly makes an individual feel poorer. It resembles other compulsive behavior and has a number of the same features as overeating, gambling, and alcohol addictions. An empirical study of addictive spenders in West Germany reported that addictive buying is obviously one form of addiction which could be replaced by other addictions, may substitute another addition, or even interchange with other types of addiction. Simultaneously, there is significant proof that there are particular major experiences to which the tendency to compulsive spending can be determined. Addictive spenders have been exposed to a particular kind of alteration of independence: they have thought that for friends, relatives, or parents, material things appeared to be more valued and more relevant than they themselves. Hence, they have developed an uncontrollable tendency for using material goods as a preferred way of making up for the lack of self-value from which they endure. I have learned from this article that predisposition is strengthened by the fact that buying and consumption gradually occupy the function of a socially preferred way of compensation. Thus, self-esteem should not be anchored in material goods but in the enduring relationships that we build. Personal Reflection Based on those articles I have reviewed, it is no doubt that I am an addictive buyer. I buy things irrationally when I am happy. My buying behavior is usually unplanned and hasty. For instance, I spend $5000 on things I convinced myself that my baby girl needs. When my husband received a promotion I immediately bought him several $1000-worth of electronic gadgets as a reward for his hard work. Then I immediately bought an Ipod for my nine-year-old daughter when she received a proficiency award. I realized that my irrational buying behavior will do me no good and my family in the long run so I tried various steps to curb my compulsive spending. First, I enrolled in an automatic bill payment plan with my bank. In doing so, my financial obligations are met every month with no room to overspend. Second, I subscribed to an online budget program which monitors all of my accounts, and sets daily reminders of what is scheduled for payment, what has gone out for bill payments, and whether I’m staying on track. Third, I will start to pay my purchases by debit card, check, or cash. Fourth, I will make a grocery/ shopping list and stick to that list. Fifth, I will only have one credit card which will be used for emergency purposes only. Sixth, I will avoid discount stores. I will apportion only a particular amount of money to be spent if I decided to visit one. Seventh, if I will ‘window shop’ during the day, I will leave my cash at home. Eighth, I will avoid ordering catalog products and TV shopping programs. Ninth, if I am travelling to stop by to a relative or friend’s house, I will have my gifts wrapped and avoid buying extra things; I have a tendency to make more irrelevant purchases when I shop outside my own locale; Tenth, I will amuse myself with other helpful activities such as exercising or walking when the craving to shop arises. And lastly, if there will come a time that I totally feel out of control, I will immediately seek counseling or help from a support group in our community. Controlling or allotting my purchases ahead of time was more difficult due to apparent financial restrictions. Since I am aware of our monthly income and expenses budgeting become very helpful in my aim to curb my compulsive spending. Budgeting becomes therapeutic and it helps me to put things into perspective. My struggle is all about helping myself to be the master of my own thoughts rather than merely a passive receiver of countless advertised products and services. The steps that I will undertake, as aforementioned, are powerful, direct, challenging, and supported by my friends and relatives that are also striving to fulfill their goal towards rational spending. After I dutifully follow the abovementioned steps towards sensible buying I will have then achieved self-control, but more importantly financial stability and the capability of expressing myself through other means rather than emotional spending. References Addictive Buying. Retrieved from XRefer XML Database. Krueger, D. (1988). On compulsive shopping and spending: A psychodynamic inquiry. American Journal of Psychotherapy , 574-584. Whybrow, P. (2009). Dangerously Addictive. The Chronicle of Higher Education , Retrieved May 19, 2010 from Research Library. Read More