How can shopping become addictive?

Obsessed with shopping?

Here’s why…

Pleasure….

That’s what we feel when we buy fashion.

But what happens in the brain when we want to experience this sensation on repeat?

Well, put simply, when we experience pleasure, a neurotransmitter called dopamine is released in the pleasure centre of the brain (the nucleus accumbens.). But as the behaviour is repeated the nucleus accumbens releases dopamine a lot faster and more intensely. As this happens the part of the brain associated with memory records this sense of satisfaction and the emotion centre (amygdala) creates a conditioned response.

Alongside the purchases, the pleasure we feel after spending on fashion are considered rewards.

In addictive behaviours, dopamine interacts with glutamate (a neurotransmitter involved in reward-related learning, motivation and memory as well as pleasure).

The repetition of purchasing, and seeking pleasure causes a reaction in the brain.

Liking something is associated with wanting it promoting a motivation to have it.

But when this action is repeated, the initial pleasurable sensation becomes less pleasurable and slowly demands more to experience the same initial feeling. Wanting to re-live and experience, that memory of purchasing becomes a craving.

Shopping for some can be a social event, a pleasurable experience and escape from reality and daily chores, and the pleasure associated with that can become a compulsion engaging in the behaviour on repeat!