MINNEAPOLIS — Chances are you've gotten an email, or two - okay maybe hundreds - reminding you today is Cyber Monday. While it's hard for all of us to resist a good deal, it can be down right impossible for some.
The thing is, spending has been glamorized over the years.
"I think in certain cultures, certainly western culture, it's become glamorized to spend, spend, spend," Dr. Odlaug said.
Odlaug is an expert and researcher who studies Impulsive, Compulsive and Addiction Disorders at the University of Minnesota. "You tend not to see the consequences behind it. It's all of the positive and very little of the negative."
And while a shopping addiction is not compiled or defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, many people struggle with it.
"If you look at the general population, what studies have shown is there is a big range of prevalence," Odlaug said. "It ranges anywhere from 2% to 16% of the population would meet criteria for an addictive shopping addiction."
When emails are specifically designed to make you do one thing - to click - it's hard for even those outside of the bracket.
"When you are constantly triggered by these emails and messages about this deal only happens today - retailers are quite smart, in sending these emails and producing these triggers in getting you to click," Odlaug said. "It can be extremely difficult for people to point and click to make those purchases."
It's also tough because the "deals" are sold as "deals," when it's not technically.
"On a regular day, if something is discounted from 500 dollars to 400 dollars, you didn't save a 100 dollars, you spent 400 dollars," Odlaug said. "The important framework is that you're spending that money. You're not saving money."
And while there are no treatments for this kind of addiction, there are helpful therapeutic methods.
"They need confidants, they need people they can rely on, they can trust with sharing their budgets and sharing how much capacity they have to spend, and what they can spend their money on," he said.
To have a productive conversation that is kind and empathetic, Odlaug suggested starting with gratitude.
"To thank them for sharing that piece, it's difficult for anyone to admit they're struggling with something," he said. "That applies to most areas of mental health."
"Helping them with creating a solid budget if they don't have the means to access medical care," he continued. "Finding those means to make sure the behavior is under control and feel a sense of control over their life again."