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[Isla Fisher in Confessions of a Shopaholic via Bluefly]
Here's a jarring story from the UK: 77-year-old compulsive shopper Joan Cunnane went missing over Christmas and was eventually found buried under a three-feet high pile of boxes. Hoarding is a genuine mental illness, but anyone who likes to shop might identify a bit too closely with anecdotes like this one:
Her closest friend, Roy Moran, 77, said: "I think it just gave her pleasure to buy things - none of it was really essential. I once asked her how many scarves she had. She said she thought about 300. I asked her why she needed that many. She said they were all different colours.