Compulsive Spending
Most of us have heard the saying, “When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping,” and laughed at the joke. However, compulsive spending is no joke. After maxing out their credit cards some shopaholics have had to declare bankruptcy. I have even encountered some who were driven to embezzle money to pay for their continuous urge to spend.
During the many years I have treatedcompulsive overeaters and bulimics, I noticed that at least sixty percent of my clients were also sober members of Twelve-Step programs for drugs or alcohol. They had given up the deadlier addictions, but they were stuck in the thrall of food.As time passed I began to notice that many were also compulsive spenders and debtors. They usually did not talk about the spending behaviors because they didn’t consider overspending much of a problem compared to alcohol, drugs, or food. Many clients described themselves as“compulsive personalities.”
The problem is not alcohol, drugs, food, shopping, sex, too much exercise, or smoking. These are the solutions. The real problem is that most of us do not know how to cope with the ups and downs of our lives. We run away from the discomforts in our lives and mask our pain and fear with temporary escape or longer-term oblivion. We keep doing this until the solution becomes a full-fledged problem with a life of its own.
The urge to shop or spend is the outward evidence of inner turmoil. Most alcoholics, drug abusers, eaters or spenders will find another way to medicate their stress unless they deal with the underlying problems that are creating the pain. They often become shopaholics. EFT can stop the urge to splurge in a few minutes and save compulsive spenders from the guilt and shame of this common compulsion.
