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- Chronic stress reduces prefrontal cortex activity, weakening impulse control and financial decision-making.
- In 2023, U.S. credit card debt exceeded $1 trillion, amplifying national financial stress levels.
- 31% of Americans admitted to stress-induced spending due to bad news or crisis headlines.
- Doom spending creates a brain-based feedback loop via temporary dopamine rewards.
- Retail therapy may escalate long-term anxiety, depression, and guilt rather than reduce stress.
You’re doomscrolling again—headlines warn of layoffs, inflation, problems with the environment. Anxious and overwhelmed, you reach for comfort: you fill an online shopping cart. This increasingly common behavior, called doom spending, may give temporary relief, but it often leads to emotional fallout and growing debt. Here’s why this financial coping strategy is so tempting—and so damaging—and how to stop the cycle.
What Is Doom Spending?
Doom spending is a way of acting where people buy things—often quickly or too much—because of how they feel about negative world events or the feeling that big dangers exist. Unlike a one-time “treat yourself” moment or regular retail therapy, doom spending comes from stronger feelings like fear, dread, or despair and often lasts longer.
While typical quick spending usually happens because of small changes in how you feel like boredom or short-lived excitement, doom spending is more based on constant, low anxiety caused by big stresses like problems with the environment, public health problems, or political trouble. You might feel like you need these purchases or that they make sense because you think you’re getting ready—buying extra gadgets, emergency supplies, or comfort items “just in case.”
This behavior isn’t just panic buying. It’s a less obvious way you react by spending that can happen again and again over months or even years—often without you knowing it.
The Brain on Doom Spending: A Neurological Perspective
To understand why doom spending feels so comforting right then, we need to look closely at how the brain works inside during times of worry.
When you face things that cause stress—such as news that makes you feel like things are bad or social worry—the amygdala gets more active, starting a stronger emotional reaction. This starts the body’s stress system: the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which releases cortisol and other stress hormones.
At the same time, activity in the prefrontal cortex—the part of the brain that helps with clear thinking, planning for the future, and controlling sudden urges—goes down. This unevenness makes you react more and be led more by feelings, less able to think about what might happen or figure out what you need compared to what you want.
Meanwhile, when you make a purchase, your nucleus accumbens (one of the reward centers of the brain) gets a quick increase of dopamine—the same chemical linked to feeling good and learning through rewards. The short-term good feeling that follows builds a strong link in the brain: “When I feel helpless or scared, shopping makes me feel better.”
This chemical reward loop shows why doom spending can become a behavior that keeps itself going. Over time, the brain learns to link feeling less afraid or worried with buying things—turning it into a learned reaction.
Emotional Spending as a Faulty Coping Mechanism
Emotional spending is a way of trying to cope based on how you feel—a strategy where people look for ways to feel better when they’re upset without fixing what’s really causing the stress. It’s like behaviors such as eating too much, putting things off, or using drugs or alcohol, which all make things feel better for a little while but cause problems later.
For those doing doom spending, shopping becomes a fast way to deal with feelings. You’re not really wanting the thing itself, but instead the change in feeling it seems to give you. It’s a way to not feel things, taking your mind off the messy things happening around you.
Research from behavioral psychology shows that people often use these ways of coping when they feel they’ve lost control. Buying things gives a false feeling of being in charge: “At least I can control what I buy.” This idea can make people make many buys that aren’t needed—only for the short good feeling to be followed by guilt, shame, or regret.
Simply put, doom spending doesn’t deal with the real fear or dread underneath—it just hides it. If this isn’t stopped, this pattern can turn into a bad habit cycle, where feeling upset leads to spending, which leads to money problems, which causes more upset feelings, and so on.
Mental Health Implications of Doom Spending
The mental effects of doom spending can be big, especially when linked to mental health problems you already have. While buying something may for a little while make you feel less afraid or helpless, it often comes with after effects like guilt, worry about money, and feeling not good enough.
According to Cleveland Clinic psychologist Dr. Dawn Potter, doom spending often involves a mental low point following the good feeling after buying. “There’s often a crash,” she explains, meaning a drop in mood that can make symptoms of depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem worse.
Repeated spending out of fear rather than need can change how you see yourself in a bad way. Regret after buying, in this situation, isn’t just regret—it’s like criticism you turn on yourself. You might think: “Why did I waste that money?” or “I can’t control myself.” This affects both how you feel emotionally and your belief in your ability to handle money, which is very important for your long-term mental health and ability to bounce back with money issues.
Over time, not stopped doom spending can even help cause or make worse anxiety problems, feelings of sadness, and behaviors where you feel you have to spend (also known as oniomania).
Doom Spending and Financial Stress
Doom spending also directly adds to financial stress, which is itself a main reason for feeling upset and tired physically.
According to the 2022 Stress in America Survey, 65% of adults called money a big cause of constant stress. This stress can be very damaging. It affects sleep, relationships, work performance, and physical health, including how well your body fights sickness and your heart health.
Combine that with interest rates going up, inflation, and fears about the economy slowing down a lot, and you have a perfect storm. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, credit card balances in the United States went over $1 trillion in 2023—a record high. These growing debts don’t just start anxiety—they keep it going, making emotional spending more likely.
The greater the money load, the harder to break out of the cycle of doom spending it becomes. You feel broke, so you spend to feel better. You regret it, which makes stress worse, leading to more spending.
This loss of financial safety—a key part of feeling safe mentally—can make it even harder to climb out of that emotional pit.
The Role of Catastrophic Thinking and Constant Crisis Mode
One of the biggest mental forces behind doom spending is catastrophic thinking—a way of thinking where you keep imagining the worst things that could happen. This mindset keeps the brain in a constant state of being overly watchful, a sort of never-ending low panic.
Statements like “the economy could crash,” or “I’ll need this item if things fall apart” show not only fear but a belief tied to brain chemicals that danger is coming soon. This isn’t just worry—it’s your limbic system taking over how you see things.
Living in “survival mode” changes your behavior to make you feel better quickly, no matter the cost. When your nervous system is reacting to seeing something as a threat, even unnecessary items—like expensive equipment, too many groceries, or fancy soaps or lotions—can feel made to seem okay because you tell yourself you’re getting ready for an emergency.
Doomscrolling → Doom Spending: A Hidden Pipeline
The term “doomscrolling”—or reading or watching too much bad stuff online—has become very popular quickly for good reason. How you feel about constant bad news gets the brain ready to make quick choices based on feelings.
Picture this: You scroll through reports about problems with the environment, war coverage, and information about the economy failing for 20 minutes. Your cortisol levels rise, your heart rate spikes, and your ability to think clearly and plan goes down. Faced with that too many strong feelings, making a purchase starts to feel like a relief valve—a small victory in a world spiraling out of control.
In a 2022 report by the National Endowment for Financial Education, 31% of Americans admitted to making spending decisions right after negative news or financial stress. These behaviors show a bigger weakness in how people handle not knowing what will happen for a long time.
Doomscrolling starts the fear cycle. Doom spending is the result in how you act. It’s a linked system—and seeing that connection is the key to breaking the cycle.
Cultural and Social Influences on Doom Spending
While biology and psychology play big parts, things in society make liking to do doom spending bigger. Especially, the culture of buying things—shaped by media, marketing, and social networks—has made spending look like a form of therapy.
Popular sayings like “Retail therapy works” or “Treat yourself—you deserve it” show buying not just as okay, but as something that makes you feel better. During big problems around the world, advertisers change how they talk to fit the time, telling people to buy “comfort items,” “emergency essentials,” or “self-care basics”—many of which are just things you want, not need.
Also, social media is full of people buying because others tell them to. A beauty influencer may share how a fancy candle helps her deal with bad news, while a prepper account might encourage followers to buy a lot of survival stuff “just to be safe.”
This creates a way the mind works in circles: You see others dealing with things by spending, so you copy what they do—even if they’re doing it to make money from people feeling sad or scared.
Marketers further use what they know about the brain in a bad way by using signs that things are running out (e.g., “Only 3 left!” or “Almost sold out”) and messages that make you feel you need to hurry (“Buy now before the next wave hits”). These tactics skip logical thinking and go right into the brain parts that make decisions based on feelings.
Warning Signs You’re Engaging in Doom Spending
Seeing early signs is very important to stopping the doom spending habit from getting worse. Here are main signs in how you act
- Sudden urge to shop after reading or watching negative news
- Frequent use of justifying thoughts like “I deserve this” or “This might be useful later”
- Feeling emotionally charged before a purchase and ashamed afterward
- Avoidance of checking budgets, statements, or financial tools
- Purchasing for comfort rather than practical necessity
- Hiding purchases from loved ones or minimizing their cost
- Repetitive spending episodes that don’t bring longer-term satisfaction
Confronting these behaviors with curiosity (and not judgment) is the first step in reforming the pattern.
Healthier Coping Strategies and Brain-Backed Substitutes
Getting back control of your emotional spending starts with offering your brain better rewards. Since doom spending makes you feel better using dopamine, good ways to cope must also offer good ways to feel rewarded that don’t involve spending.
Try these
- Mindfulness Techniques: Practices like focused breathing or progressive muscle relaxation reduce amygdala overactivity and restore balance to the nervous system.
- Low-Stakes Creation: Activities like painting, gardening, or journaling provide creative outlet while subtly raising dopamine and endorphins.
- Social Connection: A heartfelt phone call or sharing a laugh with a friend can reduce cortisol and meet your emotional needs.
- Intentional Movement: Even a brisk walk or stretch session can calm the limbic system and induce pleasure hormones like serotonin and endorphins.
- Gratitude Practices: Listing daily wins or items you’re thankful for helps shift perspective and reduce consumption-based desire.
These tools work by helping your body control stress using chemicals in your body—no purchases necessary.
Neuroeconomic Tips for Spending Self-Control
Neuroeconomics—the study of decision-making by looking at how the brain works—offers practical strategies to be smarter than the urge to doom spend
- Pause-and-Plan Rule: Delay all discretionary purchases by 24 hours. This allows your frontal cortex time to return online.
- Dopamine Budgeting: Schedule activities that bring joy (exercise, hobbies, socializing) to prevent shopping from being the only reward system.
- Reframe with Internal Dialogue: Replace catastrophic self-talk with phrases like “I control how I respond to uncertainty.”
- Use Digital Tools: Try budgeting apps, browser extensions that slow shopping decisions, or automatic savings rules.
- Incentivize Future Gains: Start picturing clear, satisfying goals that money can help you reach—like travel, feeling secure, or being free of debt.
The more you set up your surroundings to help you think clearly and control yourself, the more your brain changes.
Combining Neuroscience with Financial Wellness
Gaining control over doom spending isn’t just about cutting credit cards—it’s about working with your brain, not against it.
Think about working with a therapist who knows about financial psychology or cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) to break down what makes you spend based on feelings. Also, a caring financial advisor or coach can help you understand your financial situation and create budgeting plans that help with how you act.
This two-part approach takes the shame out of money mistakes and replaces it with lasting change in how you act.
When to Seek Professional Help
Doom spending can be a result of more serious mental health issues, including
- Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)
- Depression
- Bipolar disorder
- Borderline personality disorder (BPD)
- Obsessive-compulsive tendencies
If you’re noticing problems in relationships, big money problems, guilt that keeps getting worse, or thinking too much about spending, it may be time to seek help. Mental health professionals can help you look at the real feelings that are causing this and offer safer ways to deal with feelings.
Rewriting the Narrative of Self-Soothing
You are not broken. You’re built to look for safety, and doom spending is simply one way your system learned to find it. But that doesn’t mean it’s the most effective way.
By understanding the psychological and brain reasons behind doom spending, you can start making new choices—not by forcing yourself, but by being kind to yourself and understanding things. Instead of habits where you just react, use habits that make you feel better. Use the energy from fear to heal in a way that lasts.
Your brain deserves relief. Your wallet deserves respect. And you deserve emotional safety that isn’t tied to tracking numbers, shipping notifications, or the next emergency.
This time, try soothing your system—not your shopping cart.
Citations
- Federal Reserve Bank of New York. (2023). Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit. https://www.newyorkfed.org/microeconomics/hhdc
