Not having money restricts our choices and wreaks conditions havoc on our psyche borrowing money to pay those bills leads to debt, which can lead to all sorts of problems that has nothing to do with accounting but has everything to do with psychology.
How can debt effect your mental health.
A 2010 study from the royal college of psychiatrists found that half of UK adults in problem debt are also living with mental ill-health. These ranged from a consistent feeling of anxiety to low moods, to diagnosed mental health disorder.
Much of debt-related anxiety can be due to a lack of support from creditor's and from the individuals surrounding family, friends and employers. Debt can be a considerable burden, made worse by dealing with it alone. Another issue of debt anxiety is the lack of quality sleep it can often cause.
Losing out on a good night's sleep can not only effects your mood and energy levels, it can also have knocks- on negative effects in other areas of your life such as family and carear, all of these things in turn can contribute to a person's debts problem.
Mental illnesses also contribute to financial stress.
To make matters worse, studies show that people who struggle with existing mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety or even addiction, or more likely to struggle with debt. Considering nearly one in five adults have a mental health condition, and this contribute to a vicious cycle.
A lack of energy can make it harder to keep track of money, and rash or unwise decisions can't actually afford. In more serious cases talking time off if work may cause a sudden reduction in a person's income and being admitted in hospital can also make it harder to keep up to date with bills.
Mental health problems and conditions such as dementia may result in people having difficulties making decisions about money, the ability to make a decision on is known as mental capacity.
Responding to debt
Does debt cause mental illness or does mental illness cause debt? Yes.
That's the best answer researchers have come up with a fever years of study. Some research found that worrying about debt trigger's stress which reduces your resilience against mental health problems.
Other studies show that mental health problems decrease self-control, increase spending and basically mess up person's financial judgement that would explain why Jack Nicholson didn't have a checking account in "one flew over the cuckoo's nest."
But when we say "mental illness" caused by debt, we're not taking about a full-bore disorder like schizophrenia that requires wearing a straight jacket. The problems are less glaring, but they can still take you to tie you up in knots.
Behavior patterns that compel some to spend without restraint can drive a person into debt just as surely as a financial emergency caused by a cash crash, regardless of how someone falls behind, being in debt can trigger unsettling emotional response.
How debt damages emotional well-being.
1. Makes one dread everything: when you have debt hanging over your head, you dread having to do anything and everything. For example: a simple task such as shopping around for auto insurance quote, becomes momentally frustrating.
2. Denial:
No, it's not just a river in Africa, it's a way of fiscal life in Washington DC where politicians have let almost $20 trillion in national debt. Pile up and seem to think the bill will never come down.
Consumers Don't have the luxury of endless deficit spending, through many acts as they do. They spend compulsively while ignoring their deteriorating condition. They put off dealing with problems until some outside event-credit denied, threat of foreclosure, legal action, harassing phone calls from debt collectors forces a change. Some of the symtoms of debt denial are:
*Underestimating how much you owe.
*Not answering the phone when you suspect a collection agency is calling.
*Leaving bills unopened or just stuffing then in a drawer.
*Opening a new credit card when your old one is maxed out.
*Telling yourself that everyone is in the same situation.
Such behavior just leads to more debt as interest charges and take fees pileup. But ignoring reality is a Hardy defense mechanism for the brain. It's a way to rationalize mistakes and protect your ago. This problem in reality always set in.
3. Anxiety disorders:
There are various subsets of anxiety disorders; the main ones include.
-generalized anxiety disorder.
-panic disorder.
-phobia base disorder.
Anxiety disorder goes beyond temporary worry and fears, those living with anxiety disorder may experience physiological responses like increase heart rate, shortness of breath and headaches in response to thinking. About the debt they have, additionally, they might tend to fixate on the worst possible outcome of their situation, like losing their home, bankruptcy or the inability to take care of their children.
3. Stress:
It's the opposite of denial, and there's plenty of it based on debt-related NT statistics.
Debt and stressed is like co-joined twins, the average US household with credit card debt has balances, totaling $16,748 and the average household with any kind of debt owes $134,643. According to a 2016 nerdwallet study.
Conversely, 72% of Americans said they felt stressed about money, according to an American psychological association study. And 22% said they felt "extreme" stress over finances.
So what exactly is "stress" the term was coined by endocrinologist Hans selves in 1936, who defined it as "the non-specific response of the body to any demand for change." In modern financial terms, what means you hyperventilate when the Visa bill arrives.
Stress may be hard to define, but it manifests itself in obvious ways.
-lack of sleep,
-loss of focus,
-nagging worry.
It can effect big things like your job since you fear losing it would make your financial situation even worse. It can effect small things like lunch, since you feel guilty for ordering $2.19 iced tea instead of water. You don't need an endocrinologist to tell you that's no way to live.
How to get help
Help is available for anyone dealing with problem debt and the anxiety it can cause, shelter, citizens advice, bureau debt management and debt support trust all a free advice Service.
Charities such as step change can also work out a debt solution like a debt management plan (omp), token payments or an individual voluntary arrangement (IVA).
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