[quote]
A pill designed to treat Alzheimer's disease has been found to work on shopaholics with "compulsive buying disorder".
Shopping addicts, who suffer from a form of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), given the medication were found to spend less time on the High Street and reduce the number of impulse buys they made.
Some consumers are so addicted to buying things they run up debts of thousands of pounds and doctors have struggled to find an effective treatment.
The victims, mainly women, find it difficult to resist sales and often buy things they do not need and cannot afford.
Psychiatrists gave them a medication called memantine, normally prescribed to prevent deterioration in patients with moderate to severe Alzheimer's.
Clinical trial results showed after eight weeks, both men and women taking the pills reduced the amount of time shopping and the amount of money spent, the Daily Mail reported.
Overall the effect was said to reduce the symptoms by half, with less impulse buying and fewer impulsive urges, thoughts and behaviour.
"Hours spent shopping per week and money spent shopping both decreased significantly, with no side effects," said a team of psychiatrists from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
Those taking part in the study of nine people aged 19 to 59 were diagnosed with compulsive buying disorder, based on senseless preoccupation' with shopping and spending. This led to distress, an inability to function at work or socially and financial problems.
Compulsive buying affects up to 5.8 per cent of adults, according to studies.
People in the trial earned almost £40,000 a year on average, but were spending 61 per cent of their income on impulsive purchases, mostly clothes.
They were looking for bargains up to 38 hours a week in shops.
Memantine, also known as Ebixa, was originally designed for Alzheimer's and has been approved for use in NHS patients who fail to respond to other treatments.
It acts on the brain chemical glutamate which is thought to be involved in the development of dementia, but it is also believed to be involved in obsessiveness and may play some role in OCD (obsessive compulsive disorders).[/quote]
[url]http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9296728/Pill-to-treat-Alzheimers-also-cures-shopoholics.html[/url]
Never knew shopoholics could be cured
Always with the money, money and the [b][i]drugs[/i][/b]
Nooo don't cure the shopaholics, they're the only ones keeping are economy afloat.
first thing i thought of was rise of the planet of the apes
So that's why I keep buying stuff. There's an actual scientific term for it. I wonder if I can get some kind of compensation for being diseased.
[QUOTE=Jurikuer;36133834]So that's why I keep buying stuff. There's an actual scientific term for it. I wonder if I can get some kind of compensation for being diseased.[/QUOTE]
Nope, only treatment.
perfect for the steam summer sale
[QUOTE=Bat-shit;36133783]Always with the money, money and the [b][i]drugs[/i][/b][/QUOTE]
First post in and someone already makes a drug comment.
Its not the same thing.
Maybe there is a side effect which makes them take a long time to think so by the time they realise what they are going to get the shop is closed?
[QUOTE=redBadger;36134254]First post in and someone already makes a drug comment.
Its not the same thing.[/QUOTE]
it was a joke
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