The new addiction on the rise in Britain… and how it has the same dopamine effect as cocaine: These are the signs you have a problem – and the steps you should take to tackle it

For Hannah Blass, it all began with a pair of Adidas Stan Smith trainers. Aged 23 at the time and at university, Hannah says her family never had the money to buy expensive clothes while she was growing up.

So when, in 2019, she decided to purchase a pair of the popular shoes for around £80 using her first credit card, Hannah says she was filled with excitement – and guilt.

‘I was a student on a budget, and I knew it wasn’t sensible of me,’ says Hannah. ‘But I also got a rush from buying something I knew I couldn’t afford. And it was a rush that I wanted to keep experiencing.’

Hannah says she had always enjoyed shopping but, in her mid-20s, the hobby escalated into a unshakeable habit that had major consequences for her finances and mental health.

Today, Hannah, now 30, can put a name to her problem: she had a shopping addiction. Experts say that shopping becomes addictive due to the dopamine hit that comes with the act. Dopamine is the feel-good chemical the brain produces in response to pleasurable experiences.

Hannah says that, most weeks, she would spend hundreds of pounds shopping online – often in the evenings while scrolling on her phone. And, most weekends, she would go clothes shopping.

After university, Hannah got a job working in fashion marketing and was quickly promoted, meaning that she had more money to spend on clothes. But she also began to rack up severe levels of debt on her credit cards.

At the peak of her addiction, Hannah says that she was spending more than £11,000 a year on new clothes. Her credit card debt reached nearly £9,000. But she did not tell anyone about her financial problems.

‘I didn’t recognise it as a problem because I didn’t realise I was addicted,’ she says. ‘I’d figure out how to pay off my debt and promise myself that I’d stop spending so much. But then, the next month, I’d spend way more than I intended.

‘I was always stressed about money and disappointed in myself.’

It began to dawn on Hannah, from Vancouver, Canada, that she had a problem in 2022 when she spent nearly £700 on a pair of Prada loafers.

‘They cost as much as my monthly rent,’ she says. ‘I had no idea why I’d bought them. And I ended up being too embarrassed to wear them because I was worried people would see the brand and ask me how I could afford them.’

The moment she knew she had to take action was when her husband, Benji, proposed to her in 2023.

‘My spending was putting everything in my life at risk,’ says Hannah. ‘I needed to afford a wedding, a home and eventually kids. How was I going to do that when I couldn’t stop spending like this?’

And experts say that shopping addiction is a growing problem in the UK. In 2016, a study found that around 5 per cent of adults were affected by the problem – also known as compulsive buying. A more recent research paper, published in 2022, concluded that the number of Britons affected has since doubled.

This rise has been blamed, in large part, on the Covid pandemic, when Britons increasingly turned to online shopping to distract themselves from the boredom of repeated lockdowns.

But with the right treatment it can be cured. One of the first steps, says Zaheen Ahmed, director of therapy at The UKAT Group, which runs addiction treatment centres, is identifying the cause.

‘For many people with a shopping addiction, mental health issues are to blame,’ he says. ‘Many of these people are unhappy in their lives and trying to fill a void, in the same way that an alcohol or gambling addict might. It’s not just clothes. It’s common to see people who obsessively buy things they don’t need from Amazon.’

Mr Ahmed explains that patients trying to work out if they have a shopping addiction should consider three questions.

‘Have you tried cutting down on your shopping and failed?’ he says. ‘Do you feel guilty about your shopping? Do you get annoyed at people who question your shopping habits?

‘If you answer yes to two or more of these questions, it might be worth speaking to an addiction specialist.’

Studies show that addicts experience a dopamine spike when they indulge in their cravings.

‘The dopamine hit shopping addicts get from buying items is the same as cocaine users get when they take the drug,’ says Mr Ahmed. ‘And then, just like with cocaine, shopping addicts often crash after they’ve made a purchase, at which point they feel guilty or sad.’

Hannah says she believes her shopping addiction originated from a lack of self-confidence.

‘I grew up watching social media influencers showing off their designer clothes,’ she says. ‘I thought that, if I dressed like them, I’d have their confidence too.

‘This only got worse when I started working in fashion marketing. I was surrounded by all these women who wore expensive clothes and seemed to have their lives together. I wanted to be like them.’

She adds: ‘Each time I’d buy something I’d get a dopamine hit. Over time, I had to buy nicer, more expensive things to get the same hit.’

Hannah made the decision to kick her addiction without the help of a medical professional. Instead, she turned to a strategy that she had read about online called a ‘no buy’.

This involved making a promise to herself to not buy any clothes for three months.

‘I felt like I had no control over my life, and I wanted to prove to myself that I could be OK without new things,’ she says.‘It made me realise that I could live without shopping.’

Experts warn that this approach won’t work for all. ‘Many patients will benefit from antidepressants,’ says Mr Ahmed.

‘Others respond well to talking therapy, which helps them understand their mental health issues driving the addiction.’

Today, Hannah helps women overcome their overspending habits, through her website called The Style Audit. She says she has paid off her credit card debt and rarely buys new clothes.

‘When I started to share my story online, I was really surprised at how many women were out there going through the same thing,’ she says. ‘The problem is that much of it is hidden away because people these days shop on their phone, often while they’re doing other things.

‘It’s so easy for people go unnoticed until their debts really start to build up.’