- D W Black: Department of Psychiatry, University of Iowa College of Medicine, Iowa City 52242-1000, USA.
Compulsive buying has a long history. Described nearly a century ago by Kraepelin, and later by Bleuler, the disorder has been of interest to psychoanalysts and to the popular media. Recent interest has been rekindled by consumer behavior research that shows it to be widespread and psychiatric research that shows it to have the earmarks of a psychiatric disorder. The author reviews the history, definition, epidemiology, family history, etiology, clinical symptoms, and treatments of compulsive buying. Preliminary data from an open-label study in which subjects received fluvoxamine are also presented.