Are Some Collectors Addicted?

“Claribel preferred objects to people,” according to the museum guide at the Jewish Museum exhibit in New York City in 2011, “Collecting Matisse and Modern Masters: The Cone Sisters of Baltimore,” Claribel was one of the two Cone sisters featured in the exhibit. In fact, Claribel may not be alone. A minority of serious art collectors seem to prefer art to the company of humans or dealing with their feelings.

What Is a Behavioral Addiction?

Behavioral addiction is a compulsion to engage in an activity that may have harmful consequences. Classically, behavioral addictions include excessive gambling, eating, sex, internet use, shopping, and even plastic surgery. It is important to note that behavioral addiction is not a substance addiction that requires a craving for a particular drug or drugs.

That behavioral addiction exists is not so surprising when one realizes that the neurobiological pathways in the brain for behavioral addiction share key features with those for substance abuse. Both incorporate dopamine which plays into our reward and reinforcement pathways. Similarly, both lead to the pruning of synapses in the prefrontal cortex, which can focus attention on cues related to the activity of choice or the preferred substance. In addition, substance abuse and behavioral addiction are associated with depression and anxiety.

In my judgment, collecting art to exclude other activities in life fits well into the category of behavioral addiction. This is because it can leave personal relations adrift and, at its most extreme, lead to financial distress or even ruin. Thus, acknowledgment by a collector of her or his proclivities is important. This is because understanding that compulsions are not unique and that she/he is not alone can be helpful in itself. Secondly, recognizing that there is hope for behavioral addictions is encouraging to afflicted individuals.

According to Konkolÿ Thege et al., among those who “self-identified behavioral addictions such as excessive exercising, sexual behavior, shopping, online chatting, video gaming, and/or eating,” the duration tended to be fairly transient for most people. The authors based their results on a 5-year longitudinal study published in BioMed Central (BMC) Psychiatry. Their findings suggest that even without treatment, behavioral addictions fade away. This is largely because our lives change, and when they do, our activities, as a manifestation of that alteration, transition too.

Behavioral Addiction Statistics

While about 1 in 10 Americans over the age of 12 are addicted to drugs, behavioral addiction is less prevalent. According to the American Addiction Centers, 2-3% of the American public are addicted to gambling (25% of this percentage are women), 5.5-6.6% struggle with compulsive shopping, and about 10% of video game players are addicted to them. Collector addiction is not mentioned.

However, it could be included according to the definition of the American Society of Addictive Medicine.

Addiction is a treatable, chronic medical disease involving complex interactions among brain circuits, genetics, the environment, and an individual’s life experiences. People with addiction use substances or engage in behaviors that become compulsive and often continue despite harmful consequences.

The Upshot

In summary, here, I propose a new concept–that some collectors suffer from a behavioral addiction. Happily, even if a few collectors were to be included as one of the behavioral addictions, there is a good chance that behavior could be turned around.

This doesn’t happen to every collector who collects more avidly than most, however. Claribel Cone, mentioned in the first paragraph of this article, spent a part of her dying day doing what she loved most, acquiring an art object for her collection. Some would argue, “We should all be so lucky.”