Cognitive restructuring for compulsive buying.

the nine participants presented a current depression, and two of them met criteria for bipolar disorder, but their loss of control over shopping was not better explained by their mood disorders, since shopping bouts also occurred during periods of euthymia. Participants answered the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale-Shopping Version (YBOCS-SV)5, at the beginning and at the end of treatment. The YBOCS-SV is a 10-item scale; the first five questions are added up to produce a cognitive score (COG), and the last five ones produce a behavioral score (BEH). COG and BEH scores can be added to produce one last total score (TOT). TOT varies from 0 to 40, indicating the severity of the shopping psychopathology. We used Wilcoxon Signed Ranks tests to compare pre and post-treatment scores. COG (pre-treatment median/post-treatment median = 12/6, Z = -2.68, p = 0.007), BEH (10/6, Z = -2.67, p = 0.008) and TOT (22/11, Z = -2.67, p = 0.008) significantly decreased after CBT treatment – see Figure 1. The conclusion is that group therapy with an emphasis on detection of specific shopping cognitive distortion and restructuring may help compulsive buyers in dealing with both cognition and shopping behavior. Controlled studies are warranted in order to determine the generalizability of the present findings and to compare different approaches to this troublesome, and yet poorly recognized disorder.