Stanford, California - As Christmas shopping reaches its peak, an American psychiatrist has launched trials of a drug to help people who cannot stop spending.
It is no coincidence that Lorrin Koran, a professor at Stanford University in California, is testing his supposed cure for shopaholics now.
The season presents acute difficulties for millions of people afflicted by compulsive shopping disorder. Koran believes the condition affects one in 30 American women.
Few psychiatrists have regarded the problem as worthy of serious medical attention.
Koran, however, describes it as a "hidden epidemic", comparable to compulsive gambling, kleptomania and pyromania.
When his test programme was announced locally last week, in one day Koran's office was inundated with calls from 175 shopping addicts clamouring to become his guinea pigs. According to Koran's research, 90% of shopaholics are women.
Most buy items that improve their appearance, such as clothes, shoes, make-up and jewellery. Their male counterparts hoard power tools and car accessories.
One man could not stop buying spanners, although he already had 4 000. Koran's clinic is ideally located in the heart of Silicon Valley, the high-tech region near San Francisco that has seen some of the fastest wealth creation in America history.
Koran believes that a clear distinction must be made between recreational shoppers and those who cross the line to addiction. A typical shopaholic will embark on a binge at least once a week, he says.
She or he will experience urges to buy items that are not needed and will then feel remorse. With good reason: They often get into financial difficulties.
"The thrill they have is in the purchase and not in the possession," said Koran, who identifies low self-esteem as a common factor.
"They are filling their lives with things because they feel empty inside."
For Laura, 44, who has a penchant for Donna Karan clothes, Joan & David shoes and expensive pashmina shawls, Koran's trial is a lifeline.
As she trod an over-familiar path through a shopping mall in Stanford last week, she confessed she had spent about $35 000 (R210 000) on fashion accessories, getting
$22 000 (R142 000) into debt. Laura seems to know every garment in every shop and goes shopping six days a week.
She has tried giving up her cards and leaving her handbag at home, but has failed to stop shopping.
In the 12-week trial, 24 people will be treated with serotonin reuptake inhibitors similar to Prozac, the anti-depressant.
Serotonin carries messages between nerve cells in the brain and deficiencies are thought to lead to compulsive behaviour. - Sunday Times, London.