Retail therapy is shopping with the primary purpose of improving the buyer's mood or disposition. 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"。
“購物療法”指為了調整情緒或精神狀態而進行的購物行為。這種情況多發于情緒沮喪或調整期，一般不會持續太長時間。這期間購買的物品有時被叫做“安慰購買品”。
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 ills through retail therapy."
“購物療法”(retail therapy)這個詞首次使用是在上世紀80年代，最先出現在1986年圣誕前夜出版的《芝加哥先驅報》上：“我們已經變成了一個用購物袋衡量生活質量，用購物療法撫慰心靈創傷的國家。”
