A relatively new field of therapy might be getting a boost from the recent turmoil in the financial markets. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the number of professionals in financial therapy, for people who have “money disorders,” has grown considerably in the last several years. And with the credit crunch, housing market slump and wildly fluctuating stock market, there’s bound to be an increase in people who seek treatment.
Money disorders are things like overspending, underspending, serial borrowing, financial infidelity (“cheating” on a spouse by spending and lying about it), workaholism, financial incest (lording money over relatives to control them), financial enabling (throwing large sums at, say, adult children who then are not motivated to support themselves), hoarding, and plenty of guilt and shame around poverty and wealth. A story in The New York Times tells of a few women, one famous, several not, who suffer from many of these ills and who sought treatment for the problems.
The treatment involves financial planners and counselors helping people to deal with their money issues, which can strike seemingly anyone. Even before this month’s economic troubles, an online survey by the American Psychological Association in June found that 75% of the more than 2,500 adults said money was the #1 source of stress in their lives. And it seems that with all that’s happening in the market and the economy, money is bound to become even more of a troubling issue for at least the immediate future.