Yep. So… on top of the $170 dollars I spent on clothes but couldn’t afford, I have now spent another near $200 on sunglasses, earrings, sun hats, and a bikini (within a week). I can’t stop spending. I am “watching” ALL KINDS of things on EBAY. I am in trouble here. My mom will be upset if and when she finds out. I am putting everything on a credit card. Plus, while some nights I am sleeping a healthy amount, other nights I am sleeping 0-3 hours.
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I used to be that way about 8 years ago.
Then my mom sent me into the hospital in the end.
Now I don’t spend more than what I can afford.
I think it was because of my never-ending cravings for satifsfaction.
I was at home all day at that time. Too much time to kill.
I now get satisfaction from interractions with ppl, gaining knowledge, and going to places.
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I know it’s hard, but no one can stop you but yourself. Think of all the terrible consequences you will have to face if you keep spending. You need to get rid of that credit card.
Are you prone towards having mania? I can be impulsive when manic
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Yes. I do a lot of impulsive things when I’m manic - gambling, driving fast, ect…
Maybe you can contact your pdoc? driving fast when manic is a big one for me
The best way to stop shopping is–to stop shopping. It’s under your control unless it’s an addiction. I know that a symptom of bi-polar is going on shopping sprees. Yeah, if you are suffering from mania you should tell your doctor and also tell him about your shopping and sleeping problems. Don’t buy anything unless you really need it. I’m sure you can tell the difference between needing something and buying luxuries. A trick I once heard of to stop impulse buys is when you see something you want to buy, wait 24 hours before buying it. And stop and think, do I really need this? Think to
yourself, “Could I get along without this?. Would my life be so bad if I didn’t have this”?
By the way, it’s pretty cool that you can fit into a bikini, lol.
If you feel depressed, as well as driven to obsessive behavior to cope with those, you may want to get with your prescriber and look into a med like Luvox fluvoxamine, which helps some people with combined depression and obsessive coping. If you feel anxious, hyper and driven, you might want to get with them and discuss an appropriate anti-P and/or mood leveler.
In the long run, though, you’ll probably need to dig into DBT, MBBT and/or MBSR (psychotherapies) to pull the plug on the beliefs and the emotions that gang up on you to compel the coping mechanisms.
The shopping may be an “addiction,” but the addiction is serving a purpose. A modern, mindfulness-based cognitive therapist should be able to do an FAB (functional assessment of behavior) to determine the nature of the driver… and use one of those psychotherapies to provide better (and less expensive) comping strategies, as well as bleed the energy off.