Liberty Home Clinic is a premier treatment centre offering upmarket facilities and services in Cape Town. With a marvellous climate, lovely natural reserves, beaches, and mountains, it’s the perfect setting for recovery. Routinely safeguarded by a team of armed response services, the centre ensures the utmost peace of mind while regaining mental health.

Shopping Addiction Treatment at Liberty Home

Supported by a team of experienced mental health professionals, Liberty Home provides comprehensive treatment options for various mental health issues.

We recognise and understand that shopping addiction is a challenging mental health condition that requires specialised care. Our treatment programme is designed to address the underlying issues of shopping addiction, providing patients with the tools and support they need to overcome their compulsive buying disorder.

Primary Treatment

Liberty Home Clinic offers a primary care treatment plan with intensive support for a minimum stay of 28 days up to 8 weeks for people with addiction-related problems and co-occurring mental conditions. It is a structured programme where they receive weekly therapy sessions and holistic treatment to help them manage symptoms and improve their condition.

Secondary Treatment

We also provide more specialised treatment in our Liberty Home Secondary in Kortrijk, Belgium. Here, we offer two programmes: Reintegration Care and Mindfulness. It is a facility for sober living that provides people with highly specialised care to assist them in transitioning back to the outside community. In addition, some coping strategies are taught and practised so that they can be applied in their daily lives.

Shopping addiction is a real and serious issue that can result in financial problems and emotional distress. People with shopping addictions may feel a compulsive urge to shop, often thinking about shopping or engaging in frequent shopping sprees.

For those struggling with a shopping addiction, seeking help from a professional at an addiction treatment centre may be a way to break the vicious cycle of excessive spending. Let’s explore potential treatments that can help alleviate the symptoms and promote healing in detail.

Treatment for Shopping Addiction at Liberty Home

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

One of the most widely used therapies in treating people with shopping addiction is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). It is an evidence-based approach that works by understanding the complexity of interaction among our thoughts, emotions, and behaviours. CBT helps people with shopping addiction recognise their unhealthy thought patterns that cause and maintain their compulsion. The therapist aims to challenge these thoughts and help them replace them with more adaptive and healthy thought patterns. It also teaches them strategies to replace buying behaviours with healthy habits.

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)

Another recommended and effective treatment for shopping addiction is Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT). It is a form of CBT that integrates mindfulness, offering a comprehensive approach to emotion regulation, relationship improvement, and enhancing overall well-being. DBT is a structured therapy and has a solid educational component which teaches people with shopping addiction some practical skills based on the following core modules:

Mindfulness: This module teaches individuals with compulsive shopping problems to cultivate awareness of the present moment and accept it without judgement.
Distress Tolerance: DBT therapist helps individuals learn some skills to manage distress in healthy ways without being too impulsive, particularly those who are shopaholics. Some of these strategies include radical acceptance, distraction, and self-soothing activities.
Emotion Regulation: Considering that people who have shopping addictions may have tendencies to suppress their emotions, which could result in compulsive shopping behaviour as their coping mechanism, emotion regulation skills are essential for them to recognise their feelings and manage them effectively.
Interpersonal Effectiveness: Some studies suggest that impaired interpersonal relationships trigger behavioural addictions. It is based on the idea that compulsive behaviours are performed as a way to cope with isolation and loneliness. Hence, this DBT module can greatly help enhance their interpersonal skills so they can create and maintain healthy relationships with others.

Motivational Interviewing (MI)

MI encourages people with shopping addiction to improve their behaviour and helps them commit to the treatment by developing strategies to overcome barriers to change. MI empowers them to take control of their health and well-being.

Reintegration Care

Reintegration Care is a programme that provides a supportive and structured environment where individuals can build upon their recovery progress and learn how to effectively manage challenges and triggers that may arise in their daily lives. This structured treatment plan includes individual therapy sessions, group therapy, life skills training, education on addiction and recovery, relapse prevention planning, and support in finding stable housing and employment. Reintegration Care aims to help individuals successfully reintegrate into society while maintaining their sobriety and overall well-being.

Mindfulness Programme

A mindfulness programme, also known as Sober Living, focuses on establishing and sustaining sobriety routines and creating a supportive community where individuals can connect with others who are also committed to sobriety.

This programme’s all-inclusive approach includes mindfulness practices to help individuals become more aware of their thoughts, emotions, and behaviours. By cultivating this awareness, individuals can better understand the triggers that lead to substance use and develop healthier coping strategies.

In addition, the programme offers educational workshops and individual counselling sessions to help individuals address any underlying issues that may contribute to their substance use. These sessions can help individuals develop new skills and tools to navigate challenges and maintain long-term sobriety.

What is Shopping Addiction?

Shopping addiction, also known as oniomania, involves repetitive and excessive shopping behaviour that leads to difficulties in various aspects of life, including mental, social, work-related, financial, and legal issues.

Frequently, it functions as a way to deal with challenging feelings or situations in life. Impacted individuals may feel strong urges to go shopping, experience a sense of comfort or thrill following purchases, and face adverse outcomes that drastically affect their lives.

Signs and Symptoms of Shopping Addiction

Shopping addiction is a serious issue that many people may face without even realising it. Shopping addiction leads to financial problems, the constant need to make purchases, and a cycle of shopping that is difficult to break. Signs and symptoms of shopping addiction include:

Excessive shopping may lead to strained relationships with family, friends, or loved ones. Since financial matters are involved, it may also result in conflicts and isolation.

Social Symptoms

Accumulating debt, financial instability, and hiding purchases. The ability to qualify for loans may be severely compromised.

Financial Symptoms

Inability to control spending, feeling guilty after shopping, and neglecting responsibilities.

Behavioural Symptoms

Causes of Shopping Addiction

People with a shopping addiction may exhibit compulsive shopping behaviours such as spending beyond their means and getting caught in a vicious cycle of shopping. This condition can be caused by a combination of factors, including compulsive spending habits and using shopping as a way to deal with stress, societal pressures, or a mental disorder such as anxiety or depression.

Effects of Compulsive Shopping and Spending

Shopping addiction can have detrimental effects on individuals who develop an addiction to spending money and shopping excessively. Compulsive shopping may affect one’s overall financial health. Those suffering from shopping addiction may hide their excessive spending habits from others, as shopping addiction can lead to another mental health condition.

We Offer Support for Compulsive Buying Disorder

If you or a loved one is struggling with shopping addiction, Liberty Home Clinic is here to help. Visit our website at Liberty Home to learn more about our treatment programmes and take the first step towards recovery.

Liberty Home Clinic is located in Cape Town, South Africa, and provides a serene and supportive environment for ongoing recovery.

Where is Liberty Home located?

Compulsive shopping disorder has been reported globally, with a lifetime occurrence of 5.8% in the general population of the United States, according to a recent study. The issue of shopping addiction is mainly experienced by women, as approximately 90% of people affected are female.

How Common is Shopping Addiction?

Yes, shopping addiction is considered a mental health disorder, characterised by compulsive spending addiction that can significantly impact an individual's life. For more information, visit our website at Liberty Home or contact us directly to discuss how we can help you or your loved one achieve lasting recovery.