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Dr. April Benson's Page

  • Dr. April Benson - Overshopping Dr. April Benson
    Compulsive Buying Specialist

    April Lane Benson, Ph.D., is a nationally known psychologist who specializes in the treatment of compulsive buying disorder. She has been in private practice in New York City for over 30 years. Co-founder of the Center for the Study of Anorexia and Bulimia, the oldest outpatient eating disorders clinic in New York, Dr. Benson also serves on the Board of Directors of the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy.

    Dr. Benson graduated cum laude from Barnard College, Columbia University, and has earned a Master of Science in Counseling Psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in Psychology from Ferkauf Graduate School, Yeshiva University. She holds post-graduate certificates in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis from the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy, in the Treatment of Eating Disorders from the Center for the Study of Anorexia and Bulimia, and in Spirituality and Psychotherapy from the Blanton-Peale Institute for Pastoral Counseling.

    Dr. Benson has appeared widely in the media. Her most recent television appearances were on "My Strange Addiction," "The Bank of Mom and Dad," "ABC News Now," "Good Morning America" and "The Today Show." Recent radio interviews were heard on "Your Money with David Holland," "Marc Sussman's Money Message" on Air America, "The Peter Walsh Show" on Oprah and Friends radio, "The Jean Chatzky Show" on Oprah and Friends Radio." Quoted in The New York Times Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Chicago Tribune, she has also been referenced in Money Magazine, Kiplinger Personal Finance,Simple Living, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Harper's Bazaar, Redbook,Marie Claire, and a variety of internet publications.

    To watch, listen, or read past media featuring Dr. April Benson, visit: http://www.shopaholicnomore.com/press-kit/

    For recent and upcoming media, visit: http://www.shopaholicnomore.com/press-kit/upcoming-media/

    Dr. Benson will be doing a weekend workshop for overshoppers at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York, October 21-23, 2011. for details, Click here

    For other recent and upcoming events, visit:http://www.shopaholicnomore.com/events/

    Dr. Benson's new book, To Buy or Not to Buy: Why We Overshop and How to Stop, draws on recent reserach and on decades of working with overshoppers, and brings together key insights with practical strategies in a powerful program to help overshoppers stop overshopping. As they progress through the book, they take back control of their shopping and spending and create a rich, more meaningful and satisfying life. Dr. Benson is also offering a fully-assembled shopping journal that's an optional companion to the new book. There is also a comprehensive resource center on the website, offering resources, treatment centers, books, videos, and relevant organizations.

    View Dr. April Benson's new book, To Buy or Not to Buy:Why We Overshop and How to Stop

    To Buy or Not to Buy: Why We Overshop and How to Stop is now available digitally as an ebook at the following sites:

    View Dr. April Benson's Shopping Journal, which accompany To Buy or Not to Buy: Why We Overshop and How to Stop

    Dr. Benson's first book, I Shop, Therefore I Am: Compulsive Buying and the Search for Self (Aronson, 2000), takes a multidisciplinary approach to the problem of compulsive buying. It includes contributions from the fields of sociology, consumer behavior, marketing, community education, psychology, and psychiatry. Her chapter in Addictions: A Practical Handbook (Wiley, 2004), reviews the forms of treatment that are currently available for compulsive buying disorder and suggests the most effective way to formulate a treatment plan. In the March-April issue of the Psychotherapy Networker, Dr. Benson has written an article titled "To Buy or Not to Buy," which addresses the fact that there's much more to shopping than meets the eye. She outlines what shopping can provide and writes about mindful shopping. She's recently written two more chapters in academic books, one about social costs, social factors and public policy about compulsive buying and the other is a case repot.

    Get more information on Dr. April Benson's book, I Shop, Therefore I Am: Compulsive Buying and the Search for Self!

    Concerned about your buying behavior? For a free self-assessment, Who Needs Help? 3 Ways to Know, go to http://shopaholicnomore.com

    For information on individual and group coaching, go to: http://www.shopaholicnomore.com/professional-help/

    Recently launched is "Stop the Shopping Insanity," a series of 3 one-hour conversations that Dr. Benson had with women who share the simple, yet profoundly successful strategies they used for overcoming their debt problems forever. You'll also see Dr. Benson working with two women around purchases they made that they later regretted in the free 14-minute video that comes with the conversations. For details, go to http://shopaholicnomore.com/secrets/

    Dr. Benson has taught therapists at a number of postgraduate institutes and college counseling centers about compulsive buying and its treatment. She offers a 4-session didactic course to therapists and a 12-week experiential training seminar for therapists that want to use the treatment model that she's developed. For information on therapist training, go to: www.shopaholicnomore.com/for-therapists/

    She also offers an online course, I Shop Therefore I Am: Understanding and Treating Compulsive Buying. For details go to www.PsyBC.com and a thirteen-week training seminar for therapists who want to learn about the treatment model that Dr. Benson uses. She maintains a private practice in New York City where she works with individuals and small groups and does educational coaching for stopping overshopping by telephone with overshoppers around the country.

    For information on therapist training: http://www.shopaholicnomore.com/for-therapists/

    For more information, including a comprehensive resource center, please visit: http://www.shopaholicnomore.com/

    Q & A

    Mother Searches How to Let Her Children Know About Their Fathers Addictions
    5/16/2011 12:00:00 PM - Permalink

    Dr. Benson graduated cum laude from Barnard College, Columbia University, and has earned a Master of Science in Counseling Psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in Psychology from Ferkauf Graduate School, Yeshiva University. She holds post-graduate certificates in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis from the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy, in the Treatment of Eating Disorders from the Center for the Study of Anorexia and Bulimia, and in Spirituality and Psychotherapy from the Blanton-Peale Institute for Pastoral Counseling.

    For past media featuring Dr. April Benson, visit: http://www.shopaholicnomore.com/press-kit/

    For recent and upcoming media, visit: http://www.shopaholicnomore.com/press-kit/upcoming-media

Q & A

Mother Searches How to Let Her Children Know About Their Fathers Addictions

5/16/2011 12:00:00 PM - Permalink

I am a divorced mother of two daughters who are 13 and 12 years of age. I have full custody of both of them. Their father is still in the picture and recently took them to Florida for vacation. I received a call Thursday night by my ex-husband’s girlfriend to inform me that he had been arrested for drug trafficking. Apparently my ex-husband had a personal bottle of Oxycontin sent to their hotel room where they were staying, and the package was caught by authorities in Orlando. His addictive behavior consists of: sex, lying, shopping, traveling, working, and drugs which are a serious problem. This is the main reason why our marriage didn’t work out. He didn’t just get arrested in Florida for the first time that was his second time. Unfortunately, because he is charming, well spoken, and an affluent man, he seems to have no consequences for his behavior. I don’t know what to do or how to protect my children from his addictive behavior. My youngest daughter has nicer clothes than the children at her school. Whenever the girls get to see their dad he always takes them shopping or to fancy places. However, little do the girls know, they have no idea he is in debt of $750,000. He just makes more money and spends the cash now. My ex-husband doesn’t believe he has a problem and it’s been several years that I have been trying to help him. He doesn’t think he has a problem and refuses to attend a treatment facility. Is there a book I could read to help explain to my daughters how his excessive shopping is a problem and ruining his life?

It's heartbreaking to read about your husband's behavior and the suffering that it's caused all of you in the family. I wish I knew the name of a book that you could suggest to your daughters that would help them understand that his excessive shopping is a problem. I would imagine that if your daughters know about your husband's arrest that they have some idea that there's much more to the story than meets the eye. At some point, you might think about going to Al-Anon and talking there about the best way to handle this with your daughters. Perhaps Alateen would be a good venue. Even though your husband doesn't appear to have a drinking problem, many of the issues are very similar.

College Student Researches Shopping Addictions

4/5/2011 4:00:00 PM - Permalink

I am a third-year Journalism student at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. I'm currently working on a news story for www.Calgary20.ca on shopping addiction and was wondering if I could speak with you on the topic. If possible I would like to ask you a couple of questions over the phone; otherwise, just responding to me via email would be greatly appreciated. Essentially, I want to know what you think the biggest triggers are for shopping addicts, ways people can identify the problem before they have accumulated massive debt, and what you think are the best ways to change their behavior. Any information at all would be greatly appreciated. Thanks very much.

1. Biggest trigger:

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