11/27/2022

Why We Buy Things We Don't Need

Shopping is addictive - it's that simple

Searching for an explanation for compulsive shopping, I recently ran across the story of a woman who could not stop buying rabbits. Her husband told doctors that each day, she would visit the market and return home with yet another furry creature in a compulsive habit that appeared almost like an addiction. Then she would feel guilty about all the rabbits she had purchased.

The reason this 70-year-old woman was suddenly buying so many rabbits? She had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, which scientists believe is caused by a lack of dopamine in some parts of the brain, and she had then been put on drugs to trick her brain into believing it was getting the dopamine it needed.

But some patients who received these “dopaminergic” drugs started compulsively shopping, gambling and binge eating—their brains were getting inundated with dopamine, which made rewarding behavior feel even better than usual.

Please select this link to read the complete article from TIME.