Many people use shopping as a way to cheer themselves up, but for compulsive shoppers it can cause profound misery, not to mention serious financial problems. However, thanks to a team at Stanford University in California, a solution might be at hand.

The researchers, led by Lorrin Koran, recruited 24 compulsive shoppers to their study. According to BBC News Online (18 July) “one had bought more than 2000 wrenches, another owned 55 cameras”. The patients were treated with the antidepressant citalopram (Celexa) for seven weeks, followed by the drug or a placebo for a further nine weeks.

All of the patients who took citalopram for the entire course of the experiment reported that they had lost interest in shopping. Koran is reported as saying “Patients said to me: 'I go to the shopping mall with my friends and I don't buy anything. I can't believe it and they can't believe it'” (BBC News Online). By contrast, five of the eight patients in the placebo group relapsed after the drug was withdrawn. It is not yet known why citalopram is effective for treating compulsive shoppers, but Koran suggests that it might work by altering serotonin levels in the brain.

Although these initial findings are encouraging, the treatment has its drawbacks. As NBC11 News (16 July) reports, “Celexa does have some side effects, which include loss of sexual desire and sleepiness”. Also, some experts have questioned the fundamental concept of using drugs to treat compulsive behaviour. Robert Lefever from the PROMIS Recovery Centre in Kent (UK) says “of course antidepressants help the disorder, in the same way they would help alcohol dependency. They are simply another addiction. It's the same relation as methadone to heroin” (BBC News Online).