[Excessive compulsive buying or "behavioral addiction"? A case study].

Compulsive buying is characterized by repetitive compulsive and excessive misappropriated buying. Labels for this pathological behavior vary and its classification is uncertain. To date, there is no consistent concept for diagnosis and treatment. We present the case of a 36-year old woman with a history of excessive pathological buying. According to the assumption that addiction is a learned behavior, we assume that for the patient compulsive buying as a rewarding behavior has the function of an inadequate stress coping strategy. Therefore, in this case the diagnosis "non-substance-related behavioral addiction" is appropriate. This diagnosis is important for the choice of the therapeutic intervention, which is in accordance to the current therapeutic interventions for substance-related addictions.