How your wallet affects your mental health

A LACK of money doesn't just adversely affect your ability to spoil yourself, such as a dinner out, or pay bills, it also eats into your mental well-being and can be the cause of depression so great that people sometimes kill themselves.

- NICOLA MAWSON

1Life recently ran a poll that revealed just how serious this issue has become. Nearly 7 in 10 of the South Africans who took part said that financial pressure significantly affects their mental health. Another 10.5% admitted that their money worries are impacting their loved ones too.

Hayley Parry, money coach and facilitator at 1Life's Truth About Money, tells Personal Finance during Mental Health Awareness Month that the "psychological link between our financial wellbeing and mental health is deep, far deeper than most of us care to admit".

Parry notes that "medical research has shown that financial stress and hardship are closely associated with higher rates of depression, anxiety, and even suicide".

The UK's Money and Mental Health Policy Institute has compiled figures that dig deeper into the situation. Its research found that almost half of all people in what it calls problem debt also have a mental health problem. In addition, it found that people who were already battling mental illness saw that situation exacerbated when they faced financial stress.

The converse is also true, the Institute found, noting that a fifth of people with mental health problems are in problem debt. It is, the research shows, a vicious cycle.

Brett Caminsky, Atlas FD, asks: "What if managing your money felt less like a burden and more like a deliberate act of self-care? Financial well-being and mental well-being are two sides of the same coin."