Consumer Illnesses and Maladies

Consumer illnesses and maladies include consumption practices that medical professionals, as well as society in general, consider to be a sickness or addiction, usually characterized by individuals' inability to control their consumption. The types of consumption that fall in this category include eating disorders (binge eating, bulimia, and anorexia); addictions to sex, gambling, and work; compulsive buying; kleptomania; and hoarding. More recently, the category of consumer illnesses has been widened to include other types of illnesses, such as addiction to the Internet. “Compulsive consumption” is a label often used to refer to all of these consumer illnesses, and is defined as “a response to an uncontrollable drive or desire to obtain, use, or experience a feeling, substance, or activity that leads an individual to repetitively ...