聖誕新年後，跟著便是農曆新年。這個前後兩個多三個月的大節日時間，你會否覺得特別興奮？
      有假放，又可與家人好友聚會，自然開心。但這也是購物高峰的時候，買禮物給親朋戚友，也買東西給自己，亦是興奮的原因。
      買得興起，有時會超出預算，你會否有時懷疑自己是shopaholic？就像電影的名字一樣，是個“天生購物狂”。
      Shopaholic或shopaholism是購物狂。其實購物狂的症候有很多稱號。它的學術名稱是oniomania︰"Oniomania is the technical term for the compulsive desire to shop, more commonly referred to as compulsive shopping, shopping addiction, shopaholism, compulsive buying or CBD."

      掃走負面情緒
      問題出在compulsive。Compulsive解不能自已的，就像是被強迫一樣，想停也停不了。CBD即是Compulsive Buying Disorder。Donald Black在"World Psychiatry A review of compulsive buying disorder"一文中說，CBD的症狀可分為四個階段︰anticipation(期望)；preparation(準備)；shopping(找東西買)及spending(付款購物)。
      In a study of the antecedents and consequences of CBD, Miltenberger et al reported that negative emotions (e.g., depression, anxiety, boredom, self-critical thoughts, anger) were the most commonly cited antecedents to CBD, while euphoria or relief from the negative emotions were the most common consequence.
      Antecedent解發生在……之前的事，consequence就是後果。心理學家發現，shopaholics未購物前心情很差，滿腦子都是負面情緒，包括depression(抑鬱)、anxiety(焦慮)、boredom(發悶)、self-critical thoughts(自怨自艾)和anger(憤怒)。但在購物後，這些情緒就一掃而空，被euphoria(狂喜)的情緒取代。

      自我測試CBD
      若你開始懷疑自己是否購物狂，不用太擔心。其實大部分人都會覺得購物是一種樂趣，買到心頭好更是令人興奮的事，享受購物，並不代表你患有CBD。要判斷一個人是否有shopaholism的問題，專家會循以下方向問一些問題：
      Do you feel overly preoccupied(太專注於) with shopping and spending?
      Do you ever feel that your shopping behavior is excessive(過度), inappropriate or uncontrolled?
      Have your shopping desires, urges, fantasies(幻想), or behaviors ever been overly time consuming, caused you to feel upset or guilty(罪惡感), or lead to serious problems in your life such as financial or legal problems or the loss of a relationship?
      有些研究發現，CBD的個案全球都有發生，在美國便有百分之五點八的人有這個問題，而當中大部分是女性。Avis Cardella的Spent: Memoirs of a Shopping Addict，以過來人的角度看CBD的問題。

文︰子慧