Retail “therapy” is a harmful misnomer, and for our sakes, we need to stop using the phrase.
Therapy heals the cause but shopping just temporarily relieves symptoms.
Language matters. Calling it ‘therapy’ can fool our minds into believing we are fixing the problem when we’re just numbing and avoiding it.
In fact, a habit of retail ‘therapy’ can create a new problem of financial stress.
So next time you indulge in a little shopping relief, call it for what it is, ‘retail distraction’ or even ‘retail avoidance’.
Sure the name ‘retail therapy’ sounds cooler, but the resulting financial stress is very uncool.
When life gets us down, a better path is to swap shopping for the free pain relief of breath, movement, speaking to and hugging a friend, or connecting with nature.
Then invest the money you saved in boosting your emotional and mental wellbeing, which provides the greatest immunity to impulse spending.