Can Retail Therapy Cure the Blues?

Before she could afford to take “real vacations,” Lianna Anderson used to stay in town and dedicate an entire week to marathon shopping. “Shopping is like being in a museum,” reasons UCLA’s assistant dean for life sciences. “It’s a matter of looking at things. I like the browsing. It’s kind of a little fantasy escape.”

Now that Anderson can afford more traditional getaways, she still hits the stores as if she’s headed for a grand resort. She sees it as a form of short-term therapy.

“There are times when I’m sort of bored or maybe even a little depressed. If there’s something going on in my life and I haven’t quite resolved it and I need an escape, I’ll go shopping on an evening in the middle of the week, when the stores aren’t real busy. Maybe I’ll buy myself one thing.”

By contrast, 50-year-old Paul Skermett would rather watch “horrible” rap-music videos than shop--363 days a year. But he, too, has learned to turn routine buying pilgrimages into Retail Therapy.

“I hate shopping, quite frankly, but when I do get depressed, I go crazy with it. I’ve been known to buy a car when I was depressed. It’s the car I’m driving now and I still hate it,” says the advertising manager for the Pasadena Weekly.

“When I’m depressed and shop for clothes, I go to really expensive suits, silk shirts and all that. I do this at the most only once or twice a year, and I’ve gotten some nice-looking suits because of it.”

Both Anderson and Skermett engage in a behavior that is rampant throughout the country: temporarily escaping from problems by entering a typically pleasant, seductive, nicely decorated retail emporium, where the seemingly wonderful things in life are sold. In the process, shoppers may experience momentary relief from boredom, depression, grief, anxiety, stress or other unpleasant emotions and experiences.

Behavior experts say that shopping can, in fact, provide a “quick fix” for many people. But they caution that this can be good news, bad news--or both.

Such boosts can lift one’s spirits and add pleasure to life, perhaps jump-starting it into a higher level of functioning, some say. But shopping highs also can be dangerous, perhaps even debilitating, if employed again and again in place of dealing with the problems they temporarily alleviate.

As a result, people can easily become addicted to shopping and, in many cases, to compulsive spending as well, compounding the problems from which they sought to distract themselves.

Retail Therapy is so widespread that a 1990 poll for Virginia Slims by the Roper Organization found that 60% of American women say they often or sometimes shop to relieve stress. Only two activities ranked higher: watching television (77%) and talking on the telephone (65%).

As an antidote to life’s assorted pressures, shopping outranked cooking, taking a nap, working on a hobby, exercising, playing a game, having a drink, going to a bar and taking a tranquilizer. The poll did not question men, but other surveys have found that about twice as many women as men shop for recreation, according to David Stewart, a consumer psychologist and professor of marketing at USC.

Bonnie Strickland, a former president of the American Psychological Assn. who initiated an APA task force study on women and depression, reports that the group found women are also twice as likely as men to suffer from a major depression. “The reason women tend to brood and ruminate about their depression is because they generally carry the emotional burden of the family or relationships,” says Strickland, a professor of psychology at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Many retailers have long recognized the fact that people frequently shop for reasons other than buying what they need. They shop to reward themselves for hard work. To numb the pain of rejection and disappointment. To retaliate against a family member by spending too much of his or her money.

Says one retailer, who has reaped the financial benefits of such behavior and asked not to be identified, “It’s a serious problem among consumers. We love it.”

Adds another, who also requested anonymity, “It seems that more often than not, these people buy the non-practical things, things that are kind of expensive for what they are, something they would never buy when they’re feeling OK. They’ve looked at it before, then they come in and at that moment, they’re weak.”

Some retailers have sought to capitalize on this problem while they try to remedy it. It’s not uncommon to find shops that sell products designed to help people relax, and draw customers in by offering a soothing environment.

One such Los Angeles store, Who Makes Sense, specializes in what it calls “gifts to stimulate and awaken the senses”--massage oils, candles, fruit-flavored sugars, meditation music, aroma-therapy products. Co-owner Dolores Vinci says the store was designed for someone much like herself:

“When I go out shopping, I’m probably overtired to start with. I find that as I go along, it revives me and allows me to look at different things, things I don’t have to deal with every day. People who come into our store have children, they have jobs. They’re trying to do everything.”

Strickland likes the idea of shopping--or watching TV or doing anything that brings happiness--as a temporary boost to mental health.

“I wouldn’t advise shopping if you’re going to overspend or buy things you don’t need, but one would recommend getting out with friends, going window-shopping, going out to lunch, doing things you enjoy. Folks do different things. They may treat themselves to a great meal or they may go shopping. It basically does two things: 1) The distraction seems to help people from ruminating and brooding. And 2) it provides a reward.”

Strickland warns, however, that if anxiety or depression persists over a couple of weekends, it’s better to examine “what’s making you not feel good about yourself. If you’re really depressed or if you’re thinking suicide, you should quickly get yourself to a mental health professional because you don’t have to stay depressed.”

Other analysts maintain that any purchasing not related to actual need should be considered compulsive--even if it’s a rare occurrence.

“At that moment, it’s compulsive because you’re driven to do it for reasons other than your need to spend for appropriate reasons. It’s an escape mechanism,” says Janet Damon, a New York City-based psychotherapist who runs support groups for compulsive spenders and is the author of “Shopaholics: Serious Help for Addicted Spenders.”

“I know people who are compulsive spenders who spend perhaps only two or three times a year,”

Damon acknowledges that some people can spend occasionally even in a compulsive mode without necessarily creating a problem for themselves. But she’s deeply concerned about people who think they can avoid problems by overspending.

“It’s a diversion, like alcohol or any substance abuse. And it’s not just the spending, it’s the juggling of money. It consumes people. They direct all their anxieties to that instead of facing their problem. It’s not a light thing to be dismissed. I’ve worked with hundreds of patients who have this problem.”

“I have people in my groups who have consolidation loans of $80,000 and up. They’re in absolute ruin. They’re physically and emotionally drained by the problem.”

Damon advises compulsive spenders to first recognize they have a problem and make a firm commitment to a recovery process. She also recommends using relaxation techniques, calling a buddy to discuss issues and writing in a journal to discover the real problems hiding beneath the compulsion. And, if overspending has led to debt, attending meetings of support groups such as Debtors Anonymous.

Dr. Hyla Cass, an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine, suggests that shopping to give oneself a boost may be acceptable and perhaps even beneficial--if it’s done in moderation and balance.

“The idea isn’t to shop for the sake of shopping and buying something you don’t need,” she says. “It’s just that there are times when someone is so depressed and not able to function, that going shopping can get their energy moving. It may in fact be just the lift someone needs to get them over a particular slump so they can begin the process of self-healing. It’s a first step, not replacing introspection with an external behavior such as acquiring things.”

But those who elect to make purchases while they’re not in the best of spirits may face yet another problem: hideous purchases.

Explains a Retail Therapy practitioner who owns a lot of clothes she never wears: “When I’m depressed, I want to be somebody else. So I pick out styles that would look good on somebody else. I think, ‘I’m such a schlep. I want to look as neat as so-and-so. I’ll buy the same things she wears.’

“I also buy things I don’t really need. I convince myself they’re practical. I do that as opposed to the way I shop when I feel good, which is to buy things I love and just trust that they’ll work out in my wardrobe. I get excited about something, try it on and say, ‘Wow, that’s great. I’ve gotta have this.’ I do much better when I buy that way.”

To avoid disasters, some consumers turn to personal shoppers. And frequently, the first thing a personal shopper will do is check out a client’s closet.

“A lot of closets reflect a need for consumption rather than a need for style and self-expression,” says personal shopper Joni Consroe of Marina del Rey. “People haven’t approached shopping in terms of having a goal of having a beautiful, efficient wardrobe. They’ve approached it in terms of how much they can consume.”

Psychotherapist Damon has discovered that many of her clients follow a similar pattern of buying items they never wear or use because their judgment was as lacking as their emotional state at the time. Then again, she’s also encountered people who make exquisitely tasteful purchases no matter how they feel: “Some even have people in the stores who call them up when something they want comes in. They always know exactly what they want.”