Retail therapy is shopping with the primary purpose of improving the buyer's mood or disposition. (1) Often seen in people during periods of depression or transition, it is normally a short-lived habit. Items purchased during periods of retail therapy are sometimes referred to as "comfort buys."

Retail therapy was first used as a term in the 1980s with the first reference being this sentence in the Chicago Tribune of Christmas Eve 1986. "We've become a nation measuring out our lives in shopping bags and nursing our psychic ills through retail therapy." (2)

In 2001, the European Union conducted a study finding that 33 per cent of shoppers surveyed had "high level of addiction to rash or unnecessary consumption'." ^* This was causing debt problems for many with the problem being particularly bad in Scottish young people.

Researchers at Melbourne University have advocated its classification as a pschological disorder called oniomania or compulsive shopping disorder. ^*

One Musician used this term Retail Therapy in attempt to caution the marketing oriented music industry.

See also

• Buyer's remorse

References

• Observer "Shopping can make you depressed" May 6 2001 Accessed 20 April 2006

• Melbourne Age "Investigating retail therapy" December 5 2004 Accessed 20 April 2006

Footnotes

(1) Oxford English Dictionary Online "Retail therapy" accessed 20 March 2006

(2) Oxford English Dictionary Ibid

Mental health