Thread: Shopaholic spinster found dead under 3ft of unopened goods

Originally Posted by ShitFace

I do think though that the majority of fat people and shopaholics do not have this though and are just using it as an excuse.

Sure. I wouldn't even say they "use this as an excuse". They just shop a lot and that's the end of the story. If they don't ruin their lives over it, they have no reason to be considered ill.

If I remember correctly, in the article a friend of the deceased asked her why she had so many scarves and her reply was not "I just can't stop buying them, someone please help me." or something similar, it was "Because they are all different colours."

Emerging research about this illness shows that this is classic behavior - wanting many of the same thing in different shades is incredibly irrational, and normal people don't engage in that kind of shopping behavior. If someone doesn't know or even suspect that they're ill, why would they say "please help me, I can't stop"? The whole issue here is that it's an impulse control disorder.

if you had this urge to go shopping that to control, you would seek help, not just spend all your money. Thats what you do with illnesses.

No, that's what you or I do with illnesses because we aren't suffering from them, so we have the rationality and presence of mind to identify problems and work to fix them. Someone with these illnesses probably isn't even aware that there is help available - or that they even need help. They probably just struggle with guilt, feeling like they're out of control, but never to the point where they imagine a doctor might be needed. They probably just assume they're worthless and lack willpower, so then they get depressed and that only fuels the flames of their addiction even more.