Compulsive shopping or overspending can be a destructive addiction with serious financial or personal consequences. This not about an occasional shopping splurge but habitual behaviour where sufferers feel genuinely out of control when in an environment where spending is possible.  Spending addiction is thought to be an attempt to "buy" happiness, to soothe anxiety and boost low self-worth. Drug and alcohol abuse, binge eating and sometimes gambling problems often go hand in hand with spending disorders.

Psychotherapy addresses the underlying issues, which sometimes have their root in early childhood experiences, or family and cultural beliefs around money, to help clients achieve a healthier relationship with money and spending.