compulsive spending

Chipper said:

My son is a young adult diagnosed with  Tourettes Syndrome & Asperges.  He has  a fairly low IQ & now lives in the community with carer support.  His compulsion to spend is becoming a major problem -  his carers have  tried to help him budget but he usually argues & insists on shopping on the internet, & buying electronic gadgets & playstation games. 

Has anyone got any ideas on how to cope with this sort of compulsion?  He is now overdrawn & feeling miserable as now has no money to spend on Xmas presents & risks not being able to pay his rent & losing his Sky contract.  I am giving him a small amount to spend on family presents, but am very concerned that he will never break free from this cycle of constant craving for consumer items.

It would be so helpful if the banks could show some responsibility & limit the issuing of debit/credit cards to vulnerable people.  Does anyone know any helpful way in which obsessive spending can be controlled? 

Hi, there are some good responses to this tricky question, I wonder if you could set aside some of his income in a seperate account or fund that is dedicated to the kind of things the person wants to purchase, it may be the larger amount of their income! and generally not make it into good or bad spending but that it is allowed but only from this pool of funds?  alternatively, approach the social services about the kind of funding they can provide to help you support your sons financial needs, as this is a genuine need and serves a function for your son, of course, I am not advocating limitless spending!  and we all know how difficult it is to get any funding for anything so this is maybe a more ideological position.  I do wish you succcess with this, it may take some repetition and preparing the ground before you can go in with a full on suggestion about the money being available in other ways:)

Chipper said:

My son is a young adult diagnosed with  Tourettes Syndrome & Asperges.  He has  a fairly low IQ & now lives in the community with carer support.  His compulsion to spend is becoming a major problem -  his carers have  tried to help him budget but he usually argues & insists on shopping on the internet, & buying electronic gadgets & playstation games. 

Has anyone got any ideas on how to cope with this sort of compulsion?  He is now overdrawn & feeling miserable as now has no money to spend on Xmas presents & risks not being able to pay his rent & losing his Sky contract.  I am giving him a small amount to spend on family presents, but am very concerned that he will never break free from this cycle of constant craving for consumer items.

It would be so helpful if the banks could show some responsibility & limit the issuing of debit/credit cards to vulnerable people.  Does anyone know any helpful way in which obsessive spending can be controlled? 

Hi, there are some good responses to this tricky question, I wonder if you could set aside some of his income in a seperate account or fund that is dedicated to the kind of things the person wants to purchase, it may be the larger amount of their income! and generally not make it into good or bad spending but that it is allowed but only from this pool of funds?  alternatively, approach the social services about the kind of funding they can provide to help you support your sons financial needs, as this is a genuine need and serves a function for your son, of course, I am not advocating limitless spending!  and we all know how difficult it is to get any funding for anything so this is maybe a more ideological position.  I do wish you succcess with this, it may take some repetition and preparing the ground before you can go in with a full on suggestion about the money being available in other ways:)