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    1. Life

    Are you a victim of changing room rage?

    It's often billed as one of life's little pleasures, but a shocking 75 per cent of women have admitted to suffering from 'changing room rage' whilst shopping for clothes

    By Hannah Thomas
    Published 18 April 2011 In Features

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    Changing rooms - shopping - changing room rage
    Changing rooms - shopping - changing room rage
    (Image credit: Rex Features)
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    It's often billed as one of life's little pleasures, but a shocking 75 per cent of women have admitted to suffering from 'changing room rage' whilst shopping for clothes

    Does the long, dishevelled queue to the changing rooms put you in a bad mood? A new study suggests women find hot, cramped and stressful changing rooms so traumatic that they experience feelings of anger, disappointment and even outright rage.

    The condition - which has been dubbed ‘changing room rage’, or CRR - affects three quarters of women and often leads shoppers to snap at retail assistants.

    ‘Beautiful clothes will always make a woman feel more beautiful and therefore more positive about her appearance, but if the shopping experience itself is negative, the whole event can be utterly destructive,’ says behaviour psychologist, Susan Quilliam.

    According to the study of 1,200 women, major complaints included curtains that didn’t shut properly, long queues and a lack of space.

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    Around 75 per cent of shoppers questioned said they had stopped trying on clothes due to the state of the changing rooms and 50 per cent said they waited to try clothes on at home.

    When asked about their emotional state after visiting a high street changing room, 58 per cent of women claimed they felt disappointed and 48 per cent said they felt frustrated and stressed.

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    ‘Instead of boosting our self-esteem, it snaps it,’ continues Quilliam. ‘Instead of making us feel good about ourselves and our lives, it brings up frustration, irritation and anger.’

    Does the state of high street changing rooms send you running for the door? Share your changing room experiences with us by posting a comment below

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