HI Melissa,

When i'm high I can spend like there's no tomorrow and without any thought to the consequences of my actions. When I was younger I did a little shoplifting but that was more about wanting to fit in and have the things my friends had - still I think undiagnosed mental illness had something to do with it as thinking back it felt manic, really manic. But that's no excuse for it, and I did very little and was very lucky not to get into trouble. But then again there was that no care about consequences thing happening.

I don't know much about shopping addiction, only about bipolar shopping - I don't feel addicted I just feel euphoric, on top of the world, and I want to share the love - I often spend more on others than on myself. It doesn't really fit into shoplifting as I don't feel I have to have the things, only that I feel happy and sparkly and that i'm invincible (it's credit cards that have been my downfall) and i'm out of control with money and don't care (or even know really). My child has had some very interesting times when i've been manic - kind of hard for her to come to terms with my stability and therefore my saying "no" a lot more when we are out shopping!

Hope that helps.

N