Black Friday A Dark Time For Compulsive Shoppers

The holiday shopping season is officially in full swing. Perhaps you got out this weekend and took advantage of some sales, maybe you are partaking in Cyber Monday sales at this very moment.

All this retail hype got us thinking about how hard this time of year might be for someone who is addicted to shopping so we called up psychologist and author April Benson and asked her for her advice on handling compulsive shopping during the holiday season.

She said to ask yourself six questions if you are questioning the necessity of a purchase:

1. Why am I here?

2. How do I feel?

3. Do I need this?

4. What if I wait?

5. How will I pay for it?

6. Where will I put it?

Benson says if you can answer those six questions to your own satisfaction it is probably not a compulsive purchase. You can find more advice from Benson at her website.