Oniomania is the technical term for the compulsive desire to shop, more commonly referred to as compulsive shopping, shopping addiction, shopaholism, compulsive buying or CB. All of these are considered to be either clinical addictions or impulse control disorders, depending on the clinical source. 'Originally termed oniomania by Kraepelin

Emil Kraepelin

Emil Kraepelin was a German psychiatrist. H.J. Eysenck's Encyclopedia of Psychology identifies him as the founder of modern scientific psychiatry, as well as of psychopharmacology and psychiatric genetics. Kraepelin believed the chief origin of psychiatric disease to be biological and genetic...

 [1915] and Bleuler

Eugen Bleuler

Paul Eugen Bleuler was a Swiss psychiatrist most notable for his contributions to the understanding of mental illness and for coining the term "schizophrenia."-Biography:...

 [1924], CB has been described for over 100 years'; but though included among other pathological and reactive impulses, CB went largely ignored for the middle quarters of the twentieth century, and even today 'Compulsive Shopping is a painful yet virtually unknown mental illness'.
'Some psychiatrist

Psychiatrist

A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy...

s believe compulsive buying is more indicative of an impulse control disorder, others think it is more indicative of an obsessive-compulsive disorder...or bipolar disorder' or even an addiction

Behavioral addiction

Behavioral addiction is a form of addiction which does not rely on drugs or alcohol. Increasingly referred to as process addiction or non-substance-related addiction ) behavioral addiction includes a compulsion to repeatedly engage in an action until said action causes serious negative consequences...

.