I thought that's quite a good article actually. I don't know of the lady in question so have no idea of her back story, but it seems obvious that she's made a large amount of money over the years so must have been reasonably successful within the parameters of her industry.
As far as her behaviour goes, I don't think she's any different from the vast majority of people you'll see any weekend rammed into shopping centres up and down the land. It's just that as the numbers get bigger, the story becomes more "newsworthy."
"Mental illness"? Well you could argue I suppose that people who behave like this now, in the light of so much information being available about how spending beyond your means can be ruinous, are somewhat foolish. But you might also look to our media, retail corporations, and even successive governments, and question their part in creating the "have have have" society we now seem to love in.