When luxury stops being pleasure: Jan Gerber on opulomania – Nabd

Many of us know the pull of a new luxury piece, the way its shine seems to promise something more. But when does that pull turn into something that beings more pain than it does pleasure?

In this excerpt of a feature in Arrajol, our founder introduces ‘opulomania’: not a diagnosis, but a psychological defence mechanism in which the compulsive acquisition of luxury goods becomes a way of managing painful emotions and shoring up a fragile sense of identity. Jan explains how the cycle of pursuit and disappointment it creates can resemble addiction, and how it often sits alongside loneliness, trauma or anxiety rather than standing alone.

To learn more about how self-identity, social status and social media combine to drive this obsession, and what it actually takes to overcome it, you can read the English translations of the excerpt here and the full article here. The Arabic excerpt is available here.