Flinders University has led an international study that declares being a shopaholic as disorder

Like to shop ‘til you drop? Can’t go past a bargain without whipping out the credit card? Adelaide academics say you could be suffering from an actual disorder.

Shopaholics struggling to get a handle on their habit can finally be diagnosed with a disorder to help manage their spending in a clinical setting thanks to new research led by Flinders University.

International experts from nearly 140 universities, led by Professor Mike Kyrios from Flinders University’s Orama Institute for Mental Health and Wellbeing, have built framework to diagnose the condition, Compulsive Buying-Shopping Disorder.

Professor Kyrios said the new findings will give clinicians new tools to develop targeted interventions for people who suffer the urge to purchase.

“In over 20 years, since I started investigating excessive buying, there has been an absence of commonly agreed diagnostic criteria which has hampered the perceived seriousness of the problem,” Professor Kyrios said.

Key features of the new diagnosis criteria include:

■ Excessive purchasing of items without using them for their intended purposes

■ Diminished control over buying and shopping

■ Buying and shopping to regulate internal states, such as to generate positive emotions

Professor Kyrios said clients who show excessive buying behaviour often have difficulty regulating their emotions.

“Paradoxically, if someone with Compulsive Buying-Shopping Disorder goes on a shopping trip, this will briefly improve their negative feelings, but will soon lead to strong feelings of shame, guilt and embarrassment,” he said.

The study was an international collaboration with researchers from the Hannover Medical

School at the University of Duisburg-Essen and University of Dresden in Germany funded by the German Academic Exchange Service and Universities Australia.