Berlin  - One 20-year-old spends hundreds of euros a month on wrinkle creams she doesn't even need. Meanwhile, a work trainee buys an expensive camera that just gets stowed in the apartment.

These are just two examples of the 500,000 people in Germany alone who suffer from shopping addictions. They don't enjoy shopping, but they like the brief moment of happiness when they come to own the object of their affection. But there's only that moment where they feel special and the empty space is filled.

But it doesn't take long before the shopper develops a guilty conscience - in the worst-case scenario they don't even make it away from the store counter before they start to feel bad.

"They always think that this was the last time," says Sieglinde Zimmer-Fiene, who wrote about her uncontrollable urges to shop. She's been a shopping addict for 20 years.

"Your heart always rushes up into your head. You start to sweat and your head hurts. It's like you're moving in a fog, a trance," she says. Those symptoms are signs to psychologists of a shopping addiction, even if there is no clear definition for the disorder.

Simply shopping a lot does not make a person an addict. What's important are one's feelings and sensations during shopping. It's a sign if a person quickly loses interest in a purchased item after buying it.

"For the subject, shopping has lost its function," says Chantal Moerson, of the Charite University Clinic in Berlin. "They shop to shop, not to own."

The compulsion is usually linked to issues of self worth.

"The roots go back to a childhood filled with conflict," says Petra Schuler of the Muenchwies Psychosomatic Specialty Clinic in western Germany. Like other addicts, shopaholics have mental problems. They use shopping as a way to escape their problems and feelings.

With most sufferers, it's noticeable that they are loose with money and have a hard time saying how much money they've spent. Initially, there's just one big shopping run a month. Then it's once a week and, in extreme cases, several times a day

Addicts tend to be very excited during shopping. There are usually moments of joy after payment followed by a steep depression with feelings of failure and lack of responsibility. Those negative feelings, in turn, minimize whatever validation might stem from the next purchase.

"The pressure isn't just high internally. There's also huge external pressure," says Schuler. Shopping is usually done on the sly.

"Initially, I only bought expensive clothing. At the end, I'd go to the supermarket and only buy the most expensive chocolate and the most expensive ham," says Zimmer-Feine, who formed a self-help group seven years ago. The 54-year-old says the group is the reason she's fought off her addiction.

It's hard to find a way out of the downward spiral. Experts recommend behavioural therapy.

"At the end of the day, it's about a hidden problem," says Schuler. Therapy allows addicts to face their problems and feelings. They become aware of their own behaviour and learn to change it.

But the danger of backsliding is high. "The memory of addiction in a person's brain can't be extinguished," explains Moersen. But addictive behaviour is learned and people can be re-educated. (dpa)