With World Mental Health Day coming up on the 10th of October, we wanted to take a look at financial problems and explore the impact they can have on peoples’ mental health.
First, let’s get a better understanding of what mental health is.
What is mental health?
Happily, mental health is something we hear about more and more these days. But even though we might be familiar with the term, there are still some common misconceptions about what exactly mental health is, what it applies to, and how poor mental health can affect you.
Mental health is a catch-all term that is used to describe our emotional, psychological, and social wellbeing. It can affect how we think, feel, and behave, both in the moment and longer-term.
Your mental health can be impacted by a variety of factors. Some of these factors are biological, like your genetic makeup; some come from your life experiences, for example if you’ve experienced trauma or abuse; and others are hereditary – you’re more likely to experience poor mental health if it runs in your family.
Mental health impacts, and is impacted by, a multitude of different triggers, but we wanted to explore one of the most common: money.
How does money affect your mental health?
It can sometimes feel like the world revolves around money. Whether that’s true to your experience or not, it’s undeniable that money plays a central role in each of our lives. This means it can also have a huge impact on our mental wellbeing.
Money worries and poor mental health go hand in hand. A person’s money worries can cause their mental health to deteriorate, while poor mental health can cause, or exacerbate, their money worries. The statistics bear this out.
A study by UK charity Money and Mental Health found that 72% of respondents said mental health problems had weakened their financial situation. The same study found that 86% of people said financial problems made their mental health worse.
That’s because money and mental health problems often combine to create a cycle. If you have mental health problems, you may find it harder to get a job, causing you financial difficulty that only worsens your mental wellbeing.
Alternatively, you might start off with financial difficulties. They have been known to cause stress and anxiety, which can build over time to create mental health problems that make it more difficult to get or hold down a job, and ultimately place you in deeper financial trouble.
The good news is, the cycle can be broken.
We have a wide range of debt management solutions that could help you write off up to 81% of your debts
How do you reduce the impact of money on your mental health?
The most important thing you can do to reduce the impact of money on your mental health is to take action. Often people try to ignore their money problems, hoping they’ll go away on their own. They won’t.
If your wage isn’t covering you until the end of the month, your bills are getting out of hand, or you have no money coming in whatsoever, then the time to deal with it isn’t ‘later’. It’s now – for both your financial and mental wellbeing.
Often a good first step is to talk to someone in your life about your situation. A problem shared is a problem halved, and while the person you reach out to won’t necessarily be able to alleviate your money troubles, you’ll be surprised how much better you feel simply talking through your issues with someone who cares about you.
When you feel ready, it’s a good idea to approach an organisation who specialise in supporting people in your situation. Citizens Advice can offer you free advice on your money troubles, while Money and Mental Health are set up specifically to help break the cycle of money and mental health problems.
What role does debt play in your mental wellbeing?
One of the biggest monetary concerns impacting peoples’ mental health is debt. Debt is hard to avoid in today’s world. If you want to own your own home, buy a car, or take any other big financial step in your life, the chances are it will involve taking on some form of debt.
Debt on its own isn’t an issue. It’s problem debt that causes people so much anguish. Problem debt is any debt or financial commitment that you find difficult to fulfil – think unpaid bills, maxed-out credit cards, or being scared every time the phone rings.
It’s easy to understand why problem debt has such a huge impact on mental health, and it’s no coincidence that 46% of people with problem debt also have mental health issues.
Even worse, many people in debt take on even more debt in an attempt to try and improve their mental health. Studies show that 18% of UK adults in problem debt feel compelled to spend money they don’t have in order to make themselves feel better.
While debt allows you to take the important steps in your life, it can quickly spiral out of control if you don’t keep on top of it. The key to dealing with problem debt is making debt your priority.
How do you get help for debt problems?
If you are struggling with problem debt and it’s impacting your mental health, you are not alone. 9.5m UK adults have suffered with mental health issues as a direct result of financial anxiety.
What’s important isn’t how you arrived at the situation you’re in, but what you choose to do next. In order to improve your mental health in the long run, you need to regain control of your debts. That’s where we can help.
Creditfix has helped thousands of people get back on an even keel by taking the time to understand their situation, and matching them with the debt solution that’s right for them.
Our expert advisers are on hand to offer you guidance, support, and debt solutions that allow you to pay back what you can afford to, while working towards a future free of debt.
Write off up to 81% of unaffordable debt.
