Black Friday is often presented as a great festival of opportunity, almost a carnival of consumption, but from a mental health perspective, it is primarily a collective experience in deregulation. Within a few hours, we focus intense stimuli on a reward system, messages of urgency and scarcity, real-time social comparisons and very clear teaching methods: good people are those who take advantage of offers, consume without hesitation and turn desire into a transaction as quickly as possible. It’s not just about buying cheap, it’s about teaching, year after year, that happiness, belonging, and personal worth can and should be updated as quickly as the bottom line.
When these rituals are observed in a psychiatric light, Black Friday ceases to be a fun event and becomes a dangerous context for people prone to impulsive and compulsive buying behaviors. Compulsive buying disorder is characterized by a persistent preoccupation with shopping, stress and anxiety before purchasing something, a feeling of relief or euphoria in the act, and soon after, feelings of guilt, shame, and perceived losses, especially financial and relational. Studies show a high comorbidity of depression, anxiety disorders, and other compulsive conditions, as well as an association with increased debt and poor quality of life, turning promotional jokes into a powerful catalyst for silent cycles of suffering.
From a psychological perspective, Black Friday takes advantage of the cognitive biases we all have. Deep discounts, countdowns, and the promise of limited stock trigger rapid emotional responses, privileging spontaneous decisions over deliberate thought. The feeling that everyone benefits fuels fear of missing out (FOMO) and social comparison, especially in social media contexts, increasing the likelihood of impulsive purchases driven more by anxiety, insecurity, and a need to belong than a real need. It is not a character flaw of the consumer; It is an environment designed to pick up cognitive and emotional vulnerabilities.
Behind this scenario there is something deeper than a simple sales strategy: an appreciation of materiality as the organizing axis of psychological life. Research in psychology consistently demonstrates that the more central material values are, i.e. the focus on money, status, appearance and accumulation of goods, the worse indicators of mental health tend to be: higher prevalence of symptoms of depression and anxiety, lower life satisfaction, more conflicts and more somatic complaints. When extrinsic goals such as consumption and prestige compete with basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and connection, life becomes structured around having more, and these needs then remain chronically frustrated, fueling feelings of emptiness and lack that consumption itself attempts to numb.
This is where philosophical criticism helps define discomfort. The Frankfurt School tradition has already condemned the cultural industry as a tool for producing desire and conformity, whereby people begin to recognize themselves and be recognized by what they consume, rather than by what they create, think about, or engage in in terms of experience. Bowman It describes a society of consumers in which not only goods but also relationships, identities, and even bodies are treated as objects to use and dispose of, and Black Friday functions as an annual ritual to perpetuate this logic, a ritual of excess, of rapid replacement, and there is always something new that you don’t have yet and don’t even know you need. Byung-chul HanIn turn, when talking about the fatigue society and psychopolitics, it shows how self-exploration, pressure to perform, and constant comparison produce an exhausted self, facing emptiness, and searching in consumption for a quick palliative for its sense of failure. So the same culture that is sickened by the demand for performance presents consumption as an analgesic and Black Friday as a great annual secret.
From a clinical and social standpoint, it is not difficult to determine who suffers more in this regard. Research shows that high impulsivity, low self-efficacy, increased state anxiety, and feelings of financial insecurity increase the risk of compulsive shopping, subsequent regret, and problematic debt. People with mood and anxiety disorders, who are already dealing with feelings of emptiness, inadequacy, or hopelessness, can use purchasing as an emotional regulation strategy (“mood repair”), creating a well-known cycle: anxiety or sadness leads to purchasing; Purchasing brings instant relief; Then comes guilt and shame and a worsening of the financial situation, leading to emotional suffering. Over-connected young people, bombarded by influencers, fund reveals and personal marketing, constitute a particularly vulnerable group, as they have greater exposure to consumer triggers and less experience assessing debt risk.
If the analysis is critical, this does not mean that we are doomed to negativity. There is evidence that interventions focusing on emotional regulation, emotional intelligence, and thinking about values can reduce materialism and compulsive buying behaviors, as well as improve indicators of subjective well-being. From a mental health perspective, talking openly about money, consumption and debt, topics often surrounded by shame, is a form of care, not just financial education. In psychotherapy and psychiatry clinics, asking what exactly a person is looking for when making a purchase (relief, belonging, proof of value, numbing pain) can open up an important space for coding and selection. In practice, simple measures such as creating a preliminary budget, listing real needs, setting a waiting period before unplanned purchases and thinking about one’s own values, already act as small acts of psychological resistance to the logic of the instant click. Perhaps in the end, the more valid question on Black Friday is not how much will I save, but rather what am I trying to buy into myself when I buy? Because the most expensive bill, from a mental health perspective, never shows up on the bank statement.
* Maria Carol Pineiro – Psychiatrist, speaker, university professor and Master of Health Sciences, has been working for more than 15 years in providing services in psychiatry and psychotherapy. He coordinates the topic “Mental Health at School” in the postgraduate course in Applied Neuroscience of Education at the Faculty of Medical Sciences of Santa Casa de São Paulo. Professor on the Einstein Postgraduate Course in Lifestyle Medicine. She is the author of book chapters in publishing houses such as Artmed, Manole and Cambridge, and devotes herself to lecturing, training and consulting in the field of mental health throughout Brazil.