Chronic binge buying classified as new mental disorder
The American Psychiatric Association is debating whether chronic binge-buying should be categorised as a mental disorder, with 10 million Americans afflicted by the disease. Moving beyond extravagant or impulse buying, sufferers of onionmania plunge themselves into debt, risking careers and families in the quest to feed their addiction.
People with borderline personality problems and bipolar disorder often overspend and Australian research has shown that 80-90% of the sufferers are female. Men work through their anxieties in other ways such as substance abuse and gambling.
The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists does not have a position on whether to include chronic consumerism as a mental disorder.
