Credit card blues

The new financial trend sweeping the States

Depressed? Check your credit card bill.

As the recession digs its heels into the American economy, psychologists are reporting that compulsive shoppers are suffering post-purchase remorse, guilt and anxiety.

Timothy Fong, who directs UCLA’s Impulse Control Disorders Clinic, says, “I get several calls a month from people who say, ‘I don’t know what you call it, but this is out of control.’”

In the last few years, Stanford University and UCLA have launched treatment programs for compulsive shoppers. Meanwhile, Debtors Anonymous has reported a surge in attendance in the past few years.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, 80 per cent of those reporting compulsive shopping are women.

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