To protect anonymity, some names in this article have been changed. You’re at the office, busy typing away at the computer — but not for work. Instead, you’re searching for the trendiest clothes on your favorite store’s Web site. With a few clicks, you buy a few new outfits.

You hide the Web browser as your boss walks by and pop it up again once he leaves. When work is over, you don’t go immediately home to see neglected credit card bills. You feel you deserve a reward after a hard day’s work, so you go to the mall.

More than one in 20 people in the United States are compulsive shoppers, according to the American Journal of Psychiatry. Compulsive Shopping Disorder, or oniomania, is a growing problem, according to Stanford University’s professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences Lorrin Koran, M.D. Compulsive shopping is designated as an impulse control disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

Impulse control disorder affects people who have extreme difficulty in controlling impulses despite their negative consequences. Other impulses that fall under this category include gambling, excessive sexual behavior, pyromania, stealing and self-abusive behaviors.

“Compulsive shopping leads to serious psychological, financial and family problems including depression, overwhelming debt and the breakup of relationships,” Koran said. “People don’t realize the extent of damage it does to the sufferer.”

Manhattan psychologist April Benson, author of “I Shop Therefore I Am: Compulsive Buying and the Search for Self” on MSN Money’s Web site (moneycentral.msn.com), has witnessed how compulsive buying can be self-destructive. “One patient of mine got fired because she was compulsively shopping on the Internet all day,” she wrote. “There are other people who neglect their children and park them in the mall constantly because that is what they need to feed their habit. Lots of marriages break up over compulsive buying. In fact, (psychiatrists) don’t call it compulsive buying unless there is some significant impairment in some aspect of your life.

Sophomore Betty Wu believes that her friend might have a problem. “Her mom gives her money every day to buy lunch, and she never uses the money to buy food,” she said. “She always goes to Stonestown. She drives there and buys clothes. She has three closets full of clothes, and still thinks that’s not enough. She’s obsessed with it.”

One staff member at Lowell, Sally, is a doll collector who feels her spending might be a problem. “I think I have over 500 (dolls) and they’re all over my house,” she said. “I have some that are in storage that have never been out of the box, so they’re all over the place.”

“I will admit, I think it’s excessive,” Sally said, “My father says ‘That’s why you’re not married, you spend too much money.’”

Compulsive shoppers typically experience conflicting feelings before and after their purchases. “Initially, episodes are characterized by increasing physiological and emotional arousal before the act; pleasure, high or gratification associated with the act; and a decrease in arousal and feelings of guilt and remorse afterward,” wrote Eric Hollander, M.D. and Andrea Allen, Ph.D. in a recent editorial in the AJP.

Sally feels that though her shopping might be a problem, it isn’t the worst way to achieve this high. “I’d rather be buying dolls and shopping, rather than buying cocaine or something,” Sally said. “(Shopping) is cheaper, healthier, and better than cocaine.”

CSD often results from mood disorders like depression, substance abuse and eating disorders, according to Koran. He feels that comorbid moods, the emotions belonging to a disease or pathological process occurring simultaneously with another disease, might affect compulsive shoppers. “Preliminary evidence suggests that compulsive buyers suffer from abnormally high levels of depression and anxiety and experience higher rates of comorbid mood and anxiety disorders than comparison groups,” he said. But mood disorders are not the only causes of excessive spending. “Our society has lots of advertisements, and people get confused and feel that they need to buy things to be happy,” Nurse Maryann Rainey said. “Before it wasn’t so possible to shop; now there are a lot of stores, the Internet and shopping channels.”

Sally agrees. “Shopping channels don’t help. I never should have gotten cable because (of) places like QVC and their hosts are just like they’re your family. You’ve got the television on, and they’re very welcoming.”

Patty, a member of Debtors Anonymous, a nationwide non-profit organization that helps people get out of debt, believes that compulsive shoppers may have personal reasons for their behavior. “Some common reasons for excessive shopping are that we’re deprived when we were kids, or seeing what others have and wanting it,” she said.

Sally feels that the dolls she collects fill a certain need. “I never had any children and I never married, so my dolls are my children,” she said. “There are signs that say ‘shopping is therapy’, and it is. You have something coming in the mail, and it makes you feel special. It makes you feel good.” Some believe that credit cards aimed at adolescents are contributing to compulsive shopping. “The need for instant gratification is something we don’t need to teach to our kids,” Patty said. “Credit cards give the feeling of living for today, but the debt is still going to come back to haunt you in the next months.”

Senior Cythera Carino, who works at WetSeal, witnesses compulsive shopping behavior in young customers. “Some actually do have access to a credit card, mostly because of their parents. They’re spoiled,” she said. Carino has noticed family members of shoppers who further encourage the urge to buy things. “Sometimes, family will say ‘just get this, it looks cute,’ things like that. Parents pick out a lot of the stuff. Kids don’t really care and just accept what they get,” she said.

Senior Anthony Wong, who works at Hollister, notices similar habits. “They just get satisfaction out of buying things,” Wong said. “They just feel because ‘I have the money, I can get it.’”

“There are a variety of ways of getting out,” Rainey said. “Sometimes awareness of the problem is enough, and sometimes you need more support and structure. The point in shopping where it can be a problem is when you go above your means. Going into debt...is one indication that you have a problem. You could be saving money for college instead of spending. It is a very healthy habit to develop a habit of saving, regardless of your income.”

Group-help programs are available, such as the Loose Change forum (loose-change.org) and Debtors Anonymous (debtorsanonymous.org). Debtors Anonymous is a resource that teaches its members to handle their debt and their urges to buy by waiting three days before buying something, comparing and shopping with three prices, only carrying a certain amount of money, having an idea of how much to spend for the day and avoiding unplanned purchases. They have daily meetings in various cities nationwide, including San Francisco.