This is a UK based report but I think relevant internationally.
Money and Mental Health is the new Policy Institute set up by Martin Lewis to tackle the toxic relationship between financial difficulties and mental health problems.
Today Money and Mental Health launch their flagship report Money on your mind. This is the largest study of its kind, drawing on the experiences of nearly five and a half thousand people with mental health problems. The findings are stark.
72% of those surveyed said that their mental health problems have made their financial situation worse, and that’s not just as a result of having less money to spend. 93% say they spend more when they are unwell 92% find it harder to make financial decisions and worryingly 59% have even taken out a loan that they wouldn’t otherwise have done. Of those who have taken out new credit in the last year, more than a third (38%) said that their mental health at the time left them unable to remember what they had been told about the loan.
Previous research has shown that one in four people with a mental health problem is in problem debt, while half of those in debt also have a mental health problem.
Commenting, Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis, Founder and Chair of the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute said:
“We know financial difficulties can have a serious detrimental impact on mental health, but this report now shows conclusively that it goes both ways – mental health problems can devastate our finances too.