On Jun. 16, 2003, researchers at Stanford University Medical Center announced they found that a drug commonly prescribed as an antidepressant may be able to curb the uncontrollable shopping urges.

In a study that appeared in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, patients taking citalopram (Celexa), a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor that is approved for use as an antidepressant, scored lower on a scale that measures compulsive shopping tendencies than those on a placebo. The majority of patients using the medication rated themselves ‘very much improved’ or ‘much improved’ and reported a loss of interest in shopping.

Compulsive shopping disorder, which is estimated to affect between 2 and 8 percent of the U.S. population, is categorized by preoccupation with shopping for unneeded items and the inability to resist purchasing such items