Has anyone been successfully 'treated' for compulsive spending?

Money_Rollercoaster

I've hundreds of DVDs in my loft, the product of compulsive spending. I've bikes I've hardly ridden and expensive electricals that were purchased on credit. Keeping spending in check, for me, is a conscious battle and if I'm feeling depressed, that's when I'm at greatest risk.


I've made big progress paying off old CC / loan debts and I am currently managing to keep to a budget and continue to pay off what I owe. I do know however that I've done this before ... paid things off and slipped back into bad habits.


Has anyone here had any sort of therapy or counselling that has broken a cycle of overspending, particularly associated with spending during depressive / manic periods? I feel that I need some help so I don't spend my whole life locked in this cycle.

abby1234519

Money_Rollercoaster wrote: »

I've hundreds of DVDs in my loft, the product of compulsive spending. I've bikes I've hardly ridden and expensive electricals that were purchased on credit. Keeping spending in check, for me, is a conscious battle and if I'm feeling depressed, that's when I'm at greatest risk.


I've made big progress paying off old CC / loan debts and I am currently managing to keep to a budget and continue to pay off what I owe. I do know however that I've done this before ... paid things off and slipped back into bad habits.


Has anyone here had any sort of therapy or counselling that has broken a cycle of overspending, particularly associated with spending during depressive / manic periods? I feel that I need some help so I don't spend my whole life locked in this cycle.

Have you looked at hypnotherapy?

Money_Rollercoaster

I haven't looked at anything in detail yet. I've spent years just muddling on and never really getting past looking at a counselling website or reading a chapter of Ruby Wax's Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled ... (I guess I'd have to read the whole thing to make a difference. )


Have you used hypnotherapy? Was it successful?

ReadingTim

I'm sure there are a range of strategies used to combat other addictions such as drinking or drug abuse that could help you, but if you're looking for a kind of magic wand that can "cure" you, then no, it doesn't exist.

You're basically in for a long drawn out battle with your self control, which continues until the day you die. Like learning a foreign language, or reading music, it's very hard at first. But the more you do it, the easier it becomes. It gets ingrained eventually, but you still need to practise, else you get rusty then forget entirely.

It's a long road, and there aren't any shortcuts. Sorry this isn't the answer you're looking for.

Benjo_Munro

I have this to a degree, buying things convinced that I need them when actually I neither require them nor can afford them. It's caused my debt to build up as well.

I've had my LBM and think I will kerb my spending habits by keeping a budget spreadsheet. It details all my monthly outgoings, my current debt values/repayments and a weekly spending budget. By managing it this way I can see what I can/can not afford and it's keeps me motivated to save/clear debt.

nkkingston

Has anyone here had any sort of therapy or counselling that has broken a cycle of overspending, particularly associated with spending during depressive / manic periods? I feel that I need some help so I don't spend my whole life locked in this cycle.

You don't have to answer this, but have you approached a doctor your manic and depressive periods? I asked because your own words suggest you're aware spending is a symptom of manic depression, and I feel like you're putting the cart before the horse looking for treatment for the symptoms rather than the disease. If you are being treated, and you're still struggling with spending, therapies like CBT can teach you mechanisms to recognise and correct the behaviour before it pulls you off course.

Money_Rollercoaster

Thanks both.


I can see what you're saying ReadingTim ... I was thinking some support or another might help me learn some of those strategies.


Benjo_Munro ... absolutely, I used to go for months without checking my bank balance, and I had no concept of whether I had money to spare or not ... I spent it all the same. I know that in the past 10 years I've probably had two, maybe three crisis moments where I've basically had to sell loads of stuff and re-jig finances. At my last (2013/14) I did start budgeting and now record every single transaction and have made real progress paying stuff off, but I still get that feeling (pretty regularly) that I'm inches from going off the rails again and buying things I shouldn't.


Nkkingston - I'm sure you're right, it isn't just the spending it's a whole bundle of things that probably need unravelling somehow. I guess I've put off doing anything about it as Inot sure what a doctor can achieve - after all, if they couldn't fix my persistent shoulder pain ... how are they going to fare with what is more than likely some sort of mental illness. Perhaps I need to try all the same.

abby1234519

Money_Rollercoaster wrote: »

I haven't looked at anything in detail yet. I've spent years just muddling on and never really getting past looking at a counselling website or reading a chapter of Ruby Wax's Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled ... (I guess I'd have to read the whole thing to make a difference. )


Have you used hypnotherapy? Was it successful?

Yes, I've used it to stop compulsively eating as well as to aid me sleeping (I really struggle)

fakeplastictwee

I have used hypnotherapy to help deal with anxiety. Hypnotherapy taps into the subconscious part of your mind, which plays a big role in decision making and controls us more than we realise. Sometimes our subconscious makes links between things that aren't meant to be there, such as feeling fear in the wrong situations, or having the compulsion to spend money when you feel certain emotions, so the idea is that it helps break those links in the part of the brain that's running in the background without us realising. I'm not saying it's a magic cure, but it definitely helped when I ran it alongside CBT. The CBT helped the conscious part of controlling my behaviour. They might be two things that are worth investigating.

Money_Rollercoaster

Thanks for that, it makes sense.

theoretica

Money_Rollercoaster wrote: »

I've hundreds of DVDs in my loft, the product of compulsive spending. I've bikes I've hardly ridden and expensive electricals that were purchased on credit.

Why do you still have this stuff? Getting rid of it might help reinforce how wasted the money you spent really was - a good reminder next time the urge to spend strikes you. Either sell it for a fraction of what you paid, or if it isn't worth that hassle to you give it to charity.