生活英语|retail therapy 购物疗法

Retail^{1 therapy is shopping with the primary purpose of improving the buyer's mood or disposition2. Often seen in people during periods of depression or transition, it is normally a short-lived habit. Items purchased during periods of retail therapy are sometimes referred to as comfort buys.}

购物疗法指为了调整情绪或精神状况而进行的购物行为。这样的情况多发于情绪沮丧或调整期，一般不会持续太长期。这段时间购买的物品有时被叫做安慰购买品。

Retail therapy was first used as a term in the 1980s with the first reference being this sentence in the Chicago Tribune of Christmas Eve 1986: We've become a nation measuring out our lives in shopping bags and nursing our psychic^{3 ills through retail therapy.}

购物疗法（retail therapy）这个词初次用是在上世纪80年代，最早出目前1986年圣诞节前夜出版的《芝加哥先驱报》上：大家已经变成了一个用购物袋衡量生活水平，用购物疗法抚慰心灵创伤的国家。