Financial stress can affect your life in a multitude of ways throughout your day. Maybe you check your bank account five times in an afternoon, or maybe you avoid checking your account for as long as possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cFinancial stress puts the body on high alert, anxious about either being overwhelmed by financial stuff or trying to deny the financial stuff,\u201d clinical psychologist Dr. Ryan Howes says. \u201cEither way, financial stress kind of runs your life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Howes and his team have\u00a0looked at the health consequences of\u00a0financial stress in the USA extensively over the past two years, including a study of more than\u00a02,000 people\u00a0who identified themselves as struggling with a degree of financial stress. He says he saw three\u00a0areas impacted in just about every person he interviewed \u2014 thoughts, feelings and behaviours.<\/p>\n
These three areas seem obvious. But\u00a0financial stress can have an impact in a multitude of subconscious ways:<\/p>\n
THE IMPACT ON YOUR THOUGHTS<\/p>\n
The negative thoughts surrounding your financial stress can spill over into other areas of your life, creating negative thought patterns about more than just your money. \u201cIt\u2019s an anxiety issue,\u201d Howes says. \u201cPeople become preoccupied and worried with little pieces of their budget. \u2018Can I afford this soda?\u2019 \u2018I have to tell my friends I can\u2019t go to the movie with them\u00a0because it means money.\u2019 \u2018Where am I going to be in 10 years?\u2019 \u2018Am I going to be a failure?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
This negative thinking centres mostly on people\u2019s futures and wondering whether they\u2019ll ever be able to get out of debt. The thoughts themselves are unsettling, but perhaps even scarier is the idea that you could be passing these anxieties on to your children.<\/p>\n
We pass our money habits down, not genetically, but by example. If we see our parents completely stressed out over money, we have a greater chance of being pretty stressed out over money ourselves. People are commonly unaware of the connection between their parents\u2019 attitudes about money and their own. \u201cOne of the treatments of financial stress is to tell your financial story,\u201d Howes explains. \u201cWe ask people, \u2018Where did you learn your money habits?\u2019 \u2018Where did you learn messages about money?\u2019 And they\u2019re all totally shocked to find out, \u2018Oh, wow, I thought I was doing something different, but I actually have the same beliefs as my parents.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
THE IMPACT ON\u00a0YOUR FEELINGS<\/p>\n
\u201cEmotionally speaking, we hear people feeling hopelessness, they feel a lot of fear, feeling at times angry with themselves,\u201d Howes says. \u201cThey have to blame someone but oddly enough, people are not blaming the banks. A lot of times they are blaming themselves \u2026 \u2018I\u2019m the problem.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Money has become a very intimate topic for some people, and the shame they associate with their negative financial situations runs deep. \u201cAlmost every generation before us has made money kind of a god. It\u2019s been an idol for us,\u201d Howes explains. \u201cIt\u2019s the key to happiness, the key to success, the key to well-being and worth.\u201d<\/p>\n
THE IMPACT ON\u00a0YOUR BEHAVIORS<\/p>\n
There are two categories of behaviours seen in people experiencing financial stress. The first is described as being personal. For example, you jump when the phone rings, you react physically to an email or letter from the bank or you compulsively check an account balance. The financially stressed people interviewed tended to fidget, avoid eye contact and even breathe differently when talking about their money situations.<\/p>\n
The other category of behaviour is relational. You avoid the topic with others, and you avoid situations in which money might be required. Basically, you avoid any kind of scenario or conversation in which money or finances may come up.<\/p>\n
This urge to avoid the subject of money is incredibly strong. Asked whether they would rather discuss with friends and family their financial problems or a sexual dysfunction, people said \u2018I would rather talk about a sexual problem than a financial problem\u2019. And this lack of communication has the potential to strain how you behave with your spouse, partner, friends or other family members.<\/p>\n
Problems that can develop include a lack of trust and assigning blame, especially when two people have very different financial personalities, for example if one is more of a saver and the other is more of a spender.<\/p>\n
But the strain isn\u2019t always a result of a conflict. Sometimes what\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0said can be just as alienating as what\u00a0is\u00a0said.<\/p>\n
If money is a major stressor in someone\u2019s life and they\u2019re keeping it from their family, their friends, even their spouses, a huge canyon can start to develop between them. If people can\u2019t talk about the most stressful part of their lives with the people around them the problem can be multiplied. This can result in isolation, which will only increase the issue.<\/p>\n
MANAGE YOUR FINANCIAL STRESS<\/p>\n
Financial stress is serious but there is hope. It is possible for people to successfully manage their financial stress and even improve their attitudes toward money. What\u2019s the key? Acknowledging your fears and facing your stress head on.<\/p>\n
\u201cMoney is an issue that comes up with almost all of my clients at one time or another,\u201d Howes says. \u201cI didn\u2019t realize until doing this study that financial stress in itself is like a stand-alone problem that\u2019s worthy of every bit as much attention and focus as any other disorder people have. It\u2019s not just a side dish, it\u2019s a main course. People can overcome a lot of this distress with some fairly simple intervention \u2014 talking about it, being aware of it, learning to control and calm their body makes a major impact in people\u2019s lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
He points out that people who managed to bring their financial stress up with friends discovered that many of their friends were experiencing similar stress and suddenly they didn\u2019t feel so alone.<\/p>\n
By starting the conversation about financial stress, the power can be taken away from money and given back to people so they can control their emotions, thoughts and behaviours surrounding money. Shining a light on this and showing that no one is alone can remove the shame from it, making it a subject people feel comfortable talking about. If people can have discussions about how they feel about money, huge strides will be made in fighting financial stress.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Financial stress can affect your life in a multitude of ways throughout your day. Maybe you check your bank account five times in an afternoon, or maybe you avoid checking your account for as long as possible. \u201cFinancial stress puts the body on high alert, anxious about either being overwhelmed by financial stuff or trying […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":248,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n