The holiday shopping season is a boon for businesses, a time for bookkeepers to put down their red ink as retailers go into the black.

For some shoppers, however, the holiday season can be time of peril that leaves them looking for help with their debts or even the support of a 12-step group.

Advertising has long been ubiquitous in the weeks leading up to the end of the year, but if you think messages telling you to shop came earlier and are stronger this year, you're right, said Amy Tomas, a senior lecturer in marketing at UVM.

"In terms of the promotional aspect, it's been a very interesting year given the recession," Tomas said. "Many chains started advertising 40 days earlier than the year before."

Tomas said retailers such as Walmart, Kmart and JC Penny started their advertising push earlier and retailers are using the recession as a sales tool, the paradoxical message to shop more while at the same time saving money. Old Navy advertises their weekly "Holi-deals" while Sears is spreading holiday cheer with its messages of "25 Days of Deals" and "More Values More Christmas."

All that pressure to shop in November and December leaves some people looking for help in January and February, said Sara Varela, communications and development director for Consumer Credit Counseling Service of New Hampshire and Vermont.

"We definitely see an increase in the numbers of people seeking our services after the holidays," said Varela, whose nonprofit organization has offices in Rutland, Barre, Brattleboro and Burlington. "The market is so saturated with media telling people to go out and shop, and if you're not careful you'll go out and overspend."

During the last three years, Varela's organization has seen a 27-percent increase between December and January in people seeking help managing their debts. The average person who works with Consumer Credit Counseling Service has nine credit cards and $30,000 in debt, and the organization helps develop a debt-management program for a client, who will send one check to CCCS to be disbursed among all creditors. They also help the client create a budget for the future.

For some people, however, credit counseling isn't enough. They need a full-blown support group. In Rutland, that's Spenders Anonymous. The group, which meets from 1 to 2 p.m. Tuesdays at the Turning Point Club at 141 State St., has adopted the 12-step model of Alcoholics Anonymous, beginning with "We admitted we were powerless over spending and money and that our lives had become unmanageable" and eventually finding serenity with "Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to compulsive spenders and to practice these principles in all our affairs."

Spenders Anonymous is one of hundreds of groups to adopt the Alcoholics Anonymous model- including similar groups such as Debtors Anonymous and Shopaholics Anonymous to more disparate groups such as Workaholics Anonymous and Sexaholics Anonymous – and they've also adopted the Alcoholics Anonymous policy of not speaking on the record with the press. Local members of Spenders Anonymous declined to be interviewed on the record for this story.

But is rampant spending an addiction or just irresponsible?

"There are people who think about mood-changing behaviors – food, shopping, sex, exercise – as addictions if they are done too much," said Dr. Geoffrey Kane, chief of addiction services at Brattleboro Retreat. "We believe these behaviors trigger the reward mechanisms in the brain to release dopamine and endorphins, just as alcohol and drugs do."

Kane said the methods of treating behavioral addictions such as shopping, gambling or sex is different from treating chemical addiction. When someone is an alcoholic or a drug addict, the road to recovery begins with abstinence. With behavior addictions, abstinence can be tricky or downright impossible. While a gambler can avoid casinos and convenience stores selling lottery tickets, an overeater cannot simply stop eating – and sooner or later a compulsive shopper is going to need groceries or a new pair of shoes.

If overspending is a social problem, than where are the public service announcements warning against the behavior? The Ad Council, which runs PSAs on the dangers of drunken driving, forest fires and online sexual predators, has no such campaign against compulsive shopping. The closest would be the "Feed the Pig" campaign, which is targeted to 25- to 34-year-olds, urging them to save their money.

"We're more geared the other way, what you should do instead of what you shouldn't do," said Beth Shanley, director of corporate communications for the Ad Council.

Perhaps it's impossible to combat commercials urging people to spend, with more commercials.

"I'm not aware of any advertising campaign that tells you to ignore advertising," said Kipp Cheng, senior vice president of communications for the American Association of Advertising Agencies.

For some people, however, the 12-step model might provide the support to keep a problem shopper offline and out of the shopping malls.

"I think they're readily helpful to mood-changing behaviors," Dr. Kane said of the idea of applying the chemical dependency model to compulsive behaviors. "If someone is concerned about this in their lives, they should connect with other people who share their problem and tap into what the alcoholics call faith, hope and well-intentioned compassion."

For help managing your credit, make an appointment with Consumer Credit Counseling Service by visiting http://www.cccsnh-vt.org. For more information about Spenders Anonymous, visit www.spenders.org.

josh.ogorman@rutlandherald.com