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Addiction Recovery Bulletin
I DON’T BUY IT –
March 20, 2025 – In her personal time, Sadie goes on buying sprees for herself. She has ordered cameras, camera accessories, scrapbooking supplies, metal-detecting equipment, lasers, board games, planners, fountain pens, tech gadgets, nail polish, computer keyboard parts and yarn. She bought everything online.
Before she knew it, she was $20,000 in debt. “I couldn’t believe it,” she says. “I never told my husband how bad it was.” She has been paying the debt off, but she can’t say exactly where the total stands today. “I’m so ashamed I won’t even check the balance,” she says. Sadie asked to remain anonymous so her family would not find out that she’s a compulsive shopper.
Sadie’s struggle is not a new phenomenon. German psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin described krankhafte Kauflust — the pathological desire to buy — as early as 1899.
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