MENTAL HEALTH AND DEBT
I have been wanting to do a blog about the correlation between mental health issues and debt problems for years. One of the more common issues I see with my clients that have debt problems is that most have depression and anxiety symtoms as well. It has become clear to me that in order to fully address the underlying cause of a persons’ debt issues, mental health issues also need to be addressed.
It makes sense that someone with substantial debt problems such as credit card bills, medical debts , or a foreclosure also have anxiety and depression. Often these clients come see me only after months or years of threatening collection calls and letters. It is only natural to have some sort of depression or anxiety under these threatening conditions. There are also probably a certain percentage of clients with debt problems that first had the underlying depression or anxiety before the debt problems arose. Specifically that the mental health issues caused or helped create the debt problems. I often see in these situations where the client’ s depression causes the person to miss payments or overspend.
DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY
Either way, depression and anxiety either help cause the debt problems or they exacerbate the issue. Although I am an attorney and not a mental health professional, by atleast seeing the strong connection between debt and mental health, I am trying to address the possible connection with future clients by atleast mentioning the possible correlation and recommending they seek professional help via their family doctor or counselor.
The good news is that by addressing the anxiety or depression issues, the client is better prepared to battle their debt problems. Someone free from the grips of depression and anxiety is better able to maintain personal budgets and refrain from overspending.
PERSONAL NOTE
On a personal note, I have dealt with anxiety most of my life. During this time I have learned different ways to minimize my anxiety to include : getting atleast eight hours of deep quality REM sleep, healthy eating, limiting alcohol, breathing techniques, talk therapy, gratitude journals, meditation, adding probiotocs to my stomach and exercise.
HELPFUL WEBSITES
I have found a few websites to be very helpful and informative on my journey for better mental health. Anthony Neal is a Dave Ramsey disciple and he has an awesome video about the power of talk therapy. For a healthy lifestyle to include nutrition, I enjoy reading Dr. Weil’s website. He promotes an anti-inflammatory diet, Indian herbs, matcha tea, and breathing techniques. A really cool website full of easy Chinese therapies you can do at home to improve your mental health. I love this blog about mental healh tips in the business setting.
ADDITIONAL WEBSITES
This attorney admitted in his facebook blog he suffers from anxiety attacks. This website is devoted to mindfulness therapy. This site is one that gets to the root cause of our debt problems and our impulse purchases. An amazing Joe Rogan podcast on the health benefits of sleep. Finally, a blog about suffering and a cool way to think about how to keep our suffering in perspective.
Please talk to your family doctor or counselor if you are experiencing anxiety or depression. The blog websites are solely provided to give some ideas and start a conversation between you and your family doctor.