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Drop Till You Shop

© John McManamy

"There were 200 sheets still in packages, 50 to 60 sets of pots and pans ... "

Elizabeth Roach's moment of truth came last month. A year ago, Elizabeth, 47, a $175,000 a year consultant from Chicago, admitted to embezzling nearly a quarter million dollars from her employer in order to finance her shopping sprees. She amassed a debt of $500,000 buying clothing and jewelry, very little that she actually wore, including enough shoes to make Emelda Marcos jealous and a $7,000 belt buckle from Nieman Marcus that she pawned for $200. By selling stock she inherited and by putting a second mortgage on her condominium, she was able to pay her former employer full restitution. Now she had to convince a federal judge that her "retail therapy" was driven by chronic depression.

According to a British study cited in an article in The Observer, those who have been depressed are twice as likely to say they had bought something and regretted it. According to Lucy Purdy, who authored the study: "Shopping is offering a short-term buzz ... Unhappy people are most likely to be trying to change their lives through purchasing."

An article in the London Times notes:

"After days, or weeks, the tension the person feels becomes unbearable until the sufferer finally gives in to whatever impulse they suffer from. In the case of shopaholics they rush to the high street or retail center, credit card in hand, and have a gratifying and pleasurable few hours of shopping. They return home relaxed and at ease with themselves, but unfortunately the cycle soon repeats itself. Tension starts to mount again until it can be eased by another dose of retail therapy. Families are frequently forced into debt, marriages destroyed and the person who is a shopaholic may become so depressed as to be suicidal."

According to a University of Illinois/University of Minnesota study cited in an article in the Chicago Sun Times, about three percent of the population suffers from an unreasonable need to buy things. Says the study's co-author, Ronald Faber: "They like the social gratification, the talking to clerks. They get to know the UPS drivers by name." The same article cites the case of a Chicago woman who lived in a one-bedroom apartment packed four-feet deep with purchases. Some of the boxes and bags had sat unopened for more than two decades. When the executor of her estate arrived on the scene following her death, he couldn't push the door open. There were 200 sheets still in packages, 50 to 60 sets of pots and pans, 200 pairs of shoes, and a bathtub filled with packages.