Opulomania: Understanding the Psychological Grip of Luxury Addiction
Inside the obsession: why we can’t stop buying nice things.
What happens when luxury stops being a lifestyle and starts becoming a lifeline? This is a question that, as a mental health and addiction clinic serving ultra-high-net-worth clientele, has become ever more pertinent. In fact, at Paracelsus Recovery, we have seen such an upswing in our clients being addicted to buying high-end goods that we coined a term to describe this condition: opulomania. In this blog post, we’re exploring this often unconscious drive to acquire, display, and emotionally depend on extreme luxury, shedding light on both the emotional drivers of luxury buying and the psychological cost of high-end living. Read on to uncover how opulomania has taken root as a quiet yet powerful addiction, and what it really takes to reclaim yourself from its grip.
What is Opulomania?
In short, opulomania is a compulsive drive to buy luxury items as a coping mechanism for pain. At Paracelsus Recovery, we coined the term ‘opulomania’ to put language to this rising phenomenon of a shopping addiction of luxury goods among our clientele and to sound the alarm on this ever more prevalent issue. To be clear: opulomania is not just being materialistic or a way to describe a lifestyle preference of liking designer or high-end goods; it is an uncontrollable urge, never a choice.
Exactly how opulomania manifests varies from person to person but what tends to happen is sufferers get stuck in a vicious cycle of compulsive luxury spending followed by emotional crashes and then more reliance on high-end purchases in an attempt to emotionally regulate. Of course, such shopping sprees only offer a momentary soothing of emotional pain; after the high fades, the hurt remains. The best any purchase can offer is escapism through consumption and an ever deepening reliance on material validation to make up for a lack of internal self-worth; a pervasive sense of not being ‘enough’ and an equally pervasive desperation to fill that hole. However, no material good can ever fill that hole and with each luxury purchase made, the problem perpetuates and the cycle deepens.
The Hidden Craving Beneath the Gold
The emotional drivers of luxury buying are similar to that of any addiction: chronic emptiness, unresolved trauma, existential insecurity, and identity diffusion. Whereas someone with less funds to hand might soothe their emotional pain and suffering with alcohol or street drugs, when self-worth is fused with net worth, luxury becomes a drug itself. The way in which opulomania plays out is similar to other behavioural addictions such as gambling, sex, or shopping, where an individual person becomes dependent on and craves a set of actions. Through participating in this behaviour, such as compulsive luxury spending, an individual experiences a dopamine hit, which is the mechanism by which addiction sets in.
Dopamine and Luxury Purchases
When an individual is addicted to buying handbags and lamborghinis, it is not about the actual item you purchase; it’s about the dopamine chase. As is the case with any other behavioural addiction, it is the dopamine rush that the act of buying a luxury item provides that gets us hooked. The hit of satisfaction caused by the chemical messenger dopamine that our reward system sends out encourages us to repeat that action to get the same hit again. But here’s the catch: the rush dulls over time, meaning we need ever more — bigger purchases, bigger risks — to get the same dopamine hit.
And even when we do feel the rush we desire, it doesn’t last long. This is because dopamine’s role is not to provide long-lasting pleasure but to motivate us to act so we can survive: to seek shelter, food and human connection. However, in today’s world, we are driven to strive for success and recognition, and so we seek material proof of our value: owning luxury items. Because of the way dopamine works — it is triggered by anticipation rather than fulfilment — when we make the purchase, all we get is a short-term high that leads to long-term depletion. Before long, we find ourselves in a never-ending trap of fleeting pleasure, where we are always chasing and striving but never feeling fulfilled. And so a gnawing sense of isolation and emptiness sets in, paving the way for an array of mental health challenges and further addictions.
Invariably, each time the pain and suffering returns, we want to numb it again, so we add a bigger, more impressive luxury item to our shopping cart, click ‘buy’ and get that dopamine rush again. But when the rush subsides, the ache still lingers, and so the cycle repeats. It is this ‘encore effect’ that keeps us stuck in the endless loop of buying to numb emotional pain.
Why No One Talks About It
It’s taboo to talk about being addicted to buying luxury items due to the stigma of being an UHNW individual in pain. The misconception is: ‘how can one possibly suffer when surrounded by excess?’ This can all too often trigger a fear of being seen as “ungrateful” or “spoiled”, potentially stopping those on a downward spiral into the grips of opulomania from saying ‘I’m not okay’. And it is this inability to speak out about this rising trend that stops many UHNW individuals from getting the help they so desperately need.
Add to this the fact that opulence is normalised in elite circles; many UHNW individuals feel a sense of luxury lifestyle pressure. Driven by social media, global brand reach, and growing affluence, luxury is no longer exceptional but expected. An obsession with wealth and status fuses a water-tight bond between consumerism and identity that gives power to the belief that to be accepted and to be ‘good enough’, one must consume in a certain way. This creates an effect of social reinforcement that can only bolster a luxury shopping addiction and encourage denial that anything is wrong. After all, ‘if everyone else is doing it, then it can’t be a problem’, right? This mindset can all too easily set in and persist, even when it’s masking a slow collapse that will become increasingly challenging to break free from.
The Dark Side of Designer Obsession
What happens when what once signified success becomes an emotional lifeline? There is, of course, a psychological cost of high-end living, no matter how socially acceptable it may be in your social circle. The endless pursuit of opulence carries with it a high risk of leaving you feeling hollow and unfulfilled; material abundance can become a mask for emotional isolation. The connection between overconsumption and mental health cannot be overstated, with the psychological toll including issues like burnout, relationship breakdown, a fractured sense of self deepening anxiety and alienation.
The latter — alienation — is of particular concern when it comes to luxury addiction among Gen-Z/Millennials, generations that are already plagued by loneliness, in part due to the hyper digital world they live in. For example, a survey by Cigna found that 73% of Gen-Z surveyed felt lonely either sometimes or always. And, as inherently social creatures, loneliness poses one of the most potent threats to mental health, impacting the brain and body in ways that can erode psychological well-being and contribute to conditions such as depression, anxiety, social phobia, and addiction. And, of course, suffering from any of these conditions further deepens the urge to seek escapism through consumption, perpetuating the cycle of compulsive luxury spending and emotional crashing that defines opulomania.
The Turning Point: Recognising the Addiction
However, there is a way out of the woods, even once opulomania has well and truly taken hold. As is the case with overcoming any addiction, the first and often hardest step to putting a stop to compulsive luxury spending is to name what is happening: addiction. Based on our experience of supporting many high-profile clients such as entrepreneurs, influencers, and heirs as they navigate opulomania, we have identified several classic red flags that may signal opulomania is at play:
- Shopping not for pleasure or out of necessity, but for relief.
- Emotional whiplash: a dopamine rush at checkout, followed by an unshakable emptiness.
- A gnawing fear of missing out (FOMO), especially when it comes to the latest, rarest, or most exclusive status symbols.
- Using luxury as armor to win approval, project confidence, or conceal deep self-doubt.
- A fading connection to joy in any non-material experiences.
If you recognise any of these signs in yourself or a loved one, know that help is available. When an obsession with wealth and status has set in and the lines between consumerism and identity have become blurry, a first point of call might be a trusted family member, therapist or advisor who can help you take that first giant step of saying ‘I’m not okay’. Following this, what someone suffering from a shopping addiction of luxury goods desperately needs is tailored clinical intervention steeped in empathy, with not an ounce of judgment in sight.
Healing Beyond the Velvet Rope
What exactly does recovery look like for opulomania? When you have a shopping addiction to luxury goods, there are several stages that you need to pass through to take back the reins on your consumption habits and your life.
- Firstly, it’s important to slow the pace of consumption, which is harder said than done, highlighting the need for accountability and support in doing so.
- Secondly, you need to reconnect with your authentic values; identify who you are beyond the luxury purchases you make.
- Finally, and perhaps most importantly, it’s crucial to experience emotional intimacy without performance or status.
A comprehensive, 360-degree treatment approach is integral to this process, allowing for a deep exploration of what is going on under the surface of a luxury goods shopping addiction. At Paracelsus Recovery, we support this process discreetly and with unrivalled expertise. By exploring the emotional drivers of luxury buying in an UHNW-appropriate, non-performative therapeutic environment, we help individuals navigate opulomania to redefine their identity beyond acquisition.
To treat opulomania, we use a three-pronged approach of neuroscience-informed therapy, mindfulness, and conscious consumption to shift our clients’ focus from external validation to internal value. By taking a conscious approach to consumption, we rewire the brain to pause before each purchase in order to inquire about the deeper emotional motivations beneath the drive to buy. In doing so, we create space for an awareness of the mechanism at play that is trying to help us avoid discomfort, mask pain and diminish struggle. And when we have this awareness, we can make better choices that are aligned to our values and support us so much better than any luxury can, choices that help us finally feel ‘enough’ without having to rely on material validation.
Why Naming and Talking About The Problem Matters
Putting a name to this behavioural health crisis of compulsive luxury spending is important. Giving the condition a name invites insight, not shame; it destigmatises what is a reality for more and more UHNW individuals who have become victims of the dark side of luxury lifestyle pressure. Having language to describe what they are going though liberates them; it makes them feel seen and heard. Aside from this, putting a name to the struggle makes it easier to pave the way to recovery; it is no longer an unknown beast. That is why we at Paracelsus Recovery coined the term ‘opulomania’. And that is why this must be just the start of an ongoing conversation.
Equally key to this conversation will be this: helping struggling individuals understand that inner peace does not have a price tag. We invite you to reflect on the following: “When was the last time something priceless made you feel at peace?” If the answer was some time ago and you feel that your shopping addiction of luxury goods has spiralled out of control, then know that healing is possible, even for those who seem to “have it all”. Contact our clinic anytime for discreet support in redefining luxury and rebuilding your sense of self-worth from within.
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Paracelsus Recovery
Utoquai 43 | 8008 Zurich | Switzerland
T. +41 52 222 88 00
