Black Friday Syndrome is a serious disorder that impairs millions of Americans and some Canadians every year. It suddenly appears in late November and goes into remission for twelve months before resurfacing.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), one of the most widely used systems for classifying mental disorders includes Black Friday Syndrome under  Impulse-control disorders. These are disorders that involve an inability to control emotions and behaviors, resulting in harm to oneself or others.

Below are some of the signs that you might be suffering from Black Friday Syndrome. If you exhibit one or more of these symptoms, you should speak to a mental health professional.

1. Thanksgiving dinner is moved to breakfast so that the family meal can be dispensed with early in the day.
2. On Thanksgiving Day, your dining room table resembles a political campaign war room, covered with sales flyers.
3. You are unable to sleep the night of Thanksgiving Day, so instead you wake and loiter in front of the local Walmart waiting for it to open up.
4. You have coordinated family and friends to text message door crasher sales.
5. The phrase “0% financing for 12 months” elevates your heart rate to dangerous levels.
6. When the doors opened at Best Buy, you rushed forward with the crowd and may have stepped on a woman and her child.
7. You snatch the last Xbox on sale out of the hands of a teenager and run to the checkout line.
8. You have a total melt down when you arrive at Harold’s Electronics and learn they are out of $199 48″ flat screen TVs.
9. You purchased fishing gear at 80% off even though you hate to fish.