Psychiatrists Struggle: Is Compulsive Buying A Disease

Psychiatrists are almost as dumb as economists.

I understand. My wife and I have been married a very long time. I think one of the reasons that we have been together so long is that our conversations still intrigue me. Maybe she finds them so as well? I hope so and think that she does.

Buying stuff? We have been lots of places and certainly bought lots of stuff but I think now we are past that. We buy stuff for the grandkids and kids but for ourselves not so much. We still enjoy eating a good meal in a restaurant that knows good food from bad. Sometimes we travel but not as much as we once did. We like to watch the world and read a lot of sites on the internet. I a new perspective, like 'The Black Swan', comes along we both read it and talk about it. We talk about different events going on in the world and what might motivate them. I suppose we like to observe and discuss but as in music the pauses are as important as the notes. A lot of thinking and a little talking seems to work for us. :)

Congratulations on your long marriage. I see nothing wrong with most types of 'insanity'. Of course society should be protected from the criminally insane but their are many others that are insane in a productive way.

For instance those that have read the life story of Newton would consider his behavior extremely odd, if not insane. Newton had no social life and sequestered himself in study, not even allowing food be brought to him, for days and weeks. It is believed that Newton never had a sexual relationship of any sort in his entire life. Newton would not allow publication of most of his works during his lifetime because he would go ballistic at the merest suggestion that he might be wrong on some minor point, the only time he exhibited temper. When he found the current mathmatics were not sufficient to allow him to calculate the movements of the heavenly planets he invented calculus. I have taken calculus and cannot imagine inventing it.

Einstein and many other geniuses in many fields exhibit behavior that is at least odd compared to the vast majority of people that socialize, carry on small talk and watch football. Most of the code breakers working for various intelligence services prior to computers were odd beyond belief. Many of them could not even say hello or look another co worker in the eye because of extreme shyness. Yet when these shy geniuses were presented with an 'unbreakable code' they broke it.

I think the world would be a much poorer place without these 'odd', borderline insane, people.

Anyway, at first in a relationship love and passion are very important but to sustain a relationship for a long period of time the two people must like each other. To genuinely like a partner becomes very important as years pass. Obviously your wife must like you very much even if she thinks you are insane. :)