Title: Why Shopping Can Be Good for Your Health | Personal Finance | US News
Headings: Why Shopping Can Be Good for Your Health
Why Shopping Can Be Good for Your Health
Feeling down? A trip to the mall might help.
Why Shopping Can Be Good for Your Health

Content: Yet sometimes a quick pick-me-up is necessary. Margaret Meloy, a professor of marketing at Pennsylvania State University and co-author of the 2011 study "Retail therapy: a strategic effort to improve mood," says people must diffuse negative emotions before they worsen, or they could lose control of their shopping behaviors and act recklessly with money. Such untreated depression or frustration can push people to spending extremes. A key difference between healthy and compulsive shoppers is that compulsive buyers often experience remorse when they get home and see what they bought, Meloy says. Meanwhile, consumers who use retail therapy modestly don't regret their purchases. " There isn't this kind of upward and then downward spiral as there typically is with compulsive shoppers," Meloy says. [Read: Confessions of Former Shopaholics .] People who use retail therapy appropriately are not only happier but may also be more confident, perform better at work and express themselves more creatively, according to Yarrow.