Schizophrenia, Schizoaffective Disorder and Binge Spending

Schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder are often accompanied by binge spending. It feels therapeutic but, remember, you’re not thinking clearly due to the illness. And if you have schizoaffective disorder in particular, you might be in the middle of a manic high. Here’s what can happen with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder when you pull out the credit card for a round of binge spending.

Schizoaffective Disorder and Binge Spending

When I was in my early 20s, I fought a big battle with binge spending. It was one of my most problematic schizophrenic and schizoaffective symptoms. I bought body washes, makeup, shoes, books, journals, clothes, and CDs – so much stuff that I didn’t unpack some of the bags. My parents had given me a credit card, and I racked up a massive debt on it within a few weeks that it took my parents years to pay off. It wasn’t that I bought expensive things; rather, I spent a lot of money on little things – lots and lots of little things. It all added up. I never read some of those books and some of those CDs I only listened to once. So I was buying things I didn’t even want. We agreed to cut off the credit card.

I remember that in the middle of my first psychotic episode, I bought a book on gothic architecture just because the word “gothic” was in the title. I didn’t even look inside the book before I bought it. I had a soft spot for the 1990s subculture “goth” – I had gone to a Siouxsie and the Banshees concert a few years earlier. At least that is one expense I do not regret.

But my spending really went overboard eight years later, the summer after I graduated from graduate school. I had my own credit card now. And I started buying jewelry. I didn’t buy any really expensive jewelry, but it was more than I could afford. Even though I didn’t buy any one piece that cost more than $100, as with the books and CDs, it added up. This may sound strange, but I was addicted to spending money. I got a “fix” every time I bought something. Again, I cut up the credit card and, again, my parents paid the bill. I promised it would never happen again.

Reining in Schizophrenic and Schizoaffective Binge Spending

These days, I’m a penny-pincher. Living through an extreme economic disaster like the crash of 2008 will do that to you. My husband lost his job and that was a real eye-opener. But I think a lot of the credit also goes to my treatment. I’ve been on the same medications for a long time now, and I’m stable. My husband and I have a lot of money in our savings because I’m careful about spending money and so is he. Like I said, I think living through an economic crisis opened my eyes. But also, I just got better. And that is a better gift than any trinket, book I’ll never read, or CD I’ll listen to once. Now I have the savings and earnings to buy the ones that are really important to me after thinking through the purchase first.

My Video about Binge Spending

Photo by Elizabeth Caudy.

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