Money Anxiety: Symptoms, Causes, & Treatments

What Is Money Anxiety?

Money anxiety, also known as financial anxiety, is a type of anxiety that is triggered by financial stress. It can be extremely challenging and have a lasting impact on a person’s mental, social, physical, and financial health.

While money anxiety disorders are not a clinical diagnosis, they are extremely common and associated with many behavioral health symptoms and diagnoses. For some, anxieties stem from not being able to pay for their children’s college education or retire on time. For others, it’s fear of homelessness or food insecurity. While the individual concerns may vary greatly in scope, there is an overwhelming sense of fear, worry, and stress around money and finances.

Money Anxiety Symptoms

Money anxiety can show up in a variety of ways in relation to personal, professional responsibilities, or both.

Common symptoms of money anxiety include:

• Sleep disturbances: difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or insomnia due to anxiety over money.
• Appetite disturbances: lack of appetite or overeating in response to money anxiety.
• Somatic complaints: muscle tension, tightness in the jaw, gastrointestinal problems, headaches, migraines, aches and pains.
• Scarcity mindset: a negative perspective focused on lack of and competition over resources like money, food, and jobs. It can also involve closed mindedness. For example, people that continually say, “that’s not going to work” or “nothing will help.”
• Rumination: excessive second guessing about past decisions, choices, or actions. For example, asking, “If I stayed in that relationship, would I be better off financially?”
• Avoidance behaviors: not opening bills or looking at account balances because you don’t want to deal with your financial reality and the associated negative emotions.
• Panic: fear, overwhelm, panic attacks, a sense of wanting to flee from your situation.
• Obsessive-compulsive behaviors: obsessing about finances (balances or upcoming bills) and checking behaviors (financial accounts, financial news, stocks, etc.)
• Social isolation: resulting from shame of financial stress, as well as not wanting to spend money to go out due to money anxiety.
• Analysis paralysis: feeling frozen when it comes to making even simple financial decisions (such as grocery purchases) as you endlessly weigh the pros and cons.
• Reactive financial decisions: dramatically cutting expenses, miserly behavior, and selling treasured possessions in response to money anxiety disorder.
• Depression: hopelessness, low mood, suicidal thoughts and feelings.
• Low self-esteem: low feelings of worth and deservingness, and feelings of inadequacy.
• Difficult feelings: shame, anger, fear, grief, sadness, loss of control, regret, guilt, and more.
• Poor work-life balance: inability to rest, overwork, and burnout.

What Causes Money Anxiety?

While the causes of money anxiety disorders vary, they are more common during times of economic uncertainty. These occur when there are changes in income and expenses, an increase in financial pressure, relationship issues around finances, or alongside a history of financial trauma or other mental health conditions.

Money anxiety is especially common during historic economic crises such as the Great Depression, the Great Recession of 2008, and the current pandemic induced climate. Today, folks are cost-burdened with inflation and the rising cost of living, unemployment, and uncertainty as people change the way they work, live, and spend their time and money.

Additional causes of money anxiety may include:

Past Financial Trauma

Because of past financial traumas, a person will understandably be more likely to experience money anxiety. Furthermore, as human beings, we often unconsciously recreate the familiar until we become aware and choose something better. So, your past money story may be constraining your current financial success in the form of self-limitation and self-sabotage.

Examples of financial trauma include:

• Childhood or intergenerational trauma with regard to finances
• Poverty (The impact of poverty on mental health can not be overstated)
• Bankruptcy
• Foreclosure/short sale
• Business failure/closing
• Unemployment/job loss
• Costs due to an accident/illness/injury
• Unexpected healthcare expenses
• Divorce/breakup with traumatic financial repercussions
• Costly lawsuits

Increasing Debt

According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Americans’ total credit card balance is $925 billion in the third quarter of 2022.¹ That’s a 15% increase, the biggest year-over-year jump in more than 20 years.

Substantial debt can lead to money anxiety about student loans, car payments, mortgages, business loans, credit cards, and ‘buy now pay later’ deals. If your partner or spouse has a lot of debt or  you are in a financially dependent relationship with them, it can trigger money anxiety in you. Because anxiety isn’t rational, sometimes even small amounts of debt can trigger money anxiety. For some, accruing debt is an addictive and compulsive behavior.

Loss of Income

Anxiety over money can be triggered by loss of income due to a variety of situations and circumstances.

Examples of income loss that may influence money anxiety include:

• Job loss, unemployment
• A failing business
• A breakup or divorce
• Benefits running out
• End of alimony or child support
• End of assistance or disability coverage
• Death of a family member

Unstable Income & Lack of Savings

Money anxiety disorders are common among people who have unstable income due to seasonal or project based work, self-employment, underemployment, or disability. Additionally, when one’s savings dwindles down or goes away entirely, it can exacerbate anxiety over money.

Low Employability

Difficulty securing employment due to lack of work experience or education can lead to money anxiety. Being a stay at home parent or having a disability can hinder work experience. Others may face employment discrimination based on race, gender, sexual/gender identity, age, culture, religion, or appearance.

Lack of Access to Cash or Credit

Some people feel financial anxiety when they have low liquidity, meaning they do not have access to ‘liquid cash.’ Their money could be tied up in investments like real estate, businesses, or stocks. Or, perhaps they used to have a line of credit for their business or a credit card that is now maxed or no longer available to them. When there is no room to add additional charges, it can trigger anxiety over money.

Increased Financial Responsibility or Pressure

Different stages of life or life events can make you more cost-burdened. Examples include moving out on your own, getting married, having children, paying back student loans, paying for your kids’ college, or saving for retirement. Financial pressure can erupt if you are self-employed, own your own business, have employees, or pay a childcare provider.

Some people experience extreme financial pressure in their roles at work as a CEO, CFO, CPA, or Head of a Trust or Board. Even the very wealthy can experience money anxiety disorders, as they may feel financial responsibility and pressure to carry on the family’s legacy and name while in the media spotlight.

Underlying Anxiety or Other Mental Health Conditions

If somebody has a pre-existing anxiety disorder, history of trauma, PTSD, depression, or other mental health issues, they will be more susceptible to money anxiety disorders. Some behavioral health conditions such as addiction, compulsive spending disorders, or bipolar disorder, can contribute to financial problems that lead to money anxiety.

Financial Abuse

Being a victim of financial abuse can trigger money anxiety, as financial abusers either exploit their victims financially or coax them into becoming financially dependent so they may more easily control them. Financial abuse can make a person feel powerless over money, hence triggering increased anxiety symptoms.

Lack of Financial Literacy

Lack of ability to read or understand financial statements and reports, or understand money management basics like budgeting, saving, and investing can decrease financial confidence and increase money anxiety.

Lack of Financial Communication in Relationships

Lack of communication about finances can trigger money anxiety. For example, if one partner in a marriage handles the finances, the other may sense something is very wrong when bill collectors keep calling, texting, and sending letters. If a parent loses their job and they don’t have an open conversation with the kids, a child may lie awake at night worried they might not be able to stay living in their house or going to their same school.

Impacts of Money Anxiety

Money anxiety can impact a person mentally, relationally, and physically, as well as their job performance or functioning at work. Anxiety over money can have lasting and irreversible repercussions.

Possible impacts of money anxiety include:

Relationship Conflict

According to one survey, fighting about money is the second leading cause of divorce, behind infidelity.² In addition, another case study found that 41% of respondents said their money anxiety impacts their partners at least some of the time, causing financial disagreements and interpersonal conflict.³

Family Dysfunction

Money anxiety can increase the likelihood of family dysfunction, as family members face conflict stemming from financial problems or anxiety over money. This can destroy marriages and negatively affect children.

Substance Misuse

Many people dealing with anxiety over money can turn to drugs or alcohol as a means of self-medication, which can lead to a substance use disorder or addiction over time. Excessive funds being spent on substances can further increase symptoms of money anxiety. Furthermore, financial stress is linked to alcohol dependence.⁴

Job Performance Problems

A new survey says employees spend 25% of their workday worrying about money. Thus, anxiety over money negatively impacts productivity at work and can lead to errors, accidents, and injury while on the job.⁵

Hoarding

Money anxiety often involves a scarcity mindset which can lead to hoarding behaviors and eventually turning into a hoarding disorder.

Gambling

According to studies, money anxiety is associated with gambling and can turn into a serious gambling addiction.⁵

Crime

According to a recent study, ongoing money anxiety and particularly debt may cause a person to turn to criminal behaviors such as theft, prostitution, and dealing drugs out of desperation.⁷ These choices can have lasting emotional, social, and legal consequences such as incarceration.

Sleep Disturbances

Anxiety over money can lead to chronic insomnia and sleep disturbances. The Better Sleep Council conducted a study that showed participants who slept the best are financially comfortable.⁸ Furthermore, close to two-thirds of people who rated themselves as poor sleepers were anxious about their financial future.

Medical Conditions

Recent studies show 23% of adults and 36% of millennials experience financial stress that qualify as a PTSD diagnosis.⁹ Money anxiety keeps our physiology amped up nearly all the time. Without the chance to recover, long-term stress releases hormones that can wear down the mind and body, causing psychiatric problems, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and other health concerns. These conditions may also result from overeating because of poor work-life balance, as well as eating low-cost foods that are processed, low in nutrients, and high in refined carbs and sugar that lead to weight gain.

Mental Health Conditions

Anxiety over money can lead to ongoing mental health conditions including low self-esteem, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, depression, financially triggered PTSD, and suicidal thoughts and feelings or death by suicide.^{10, 11, 12} Financial distress accounts for 16 percent of suicides in the US, and correlates with lower life satisfaction and higher stress, anxiety, and depression.¹³

Overwork and Burnout

People with anxiety over money may work multiple jobs, have poor work-life balance, and feel that they “never have enough money” to work less or retire. All of this can result in overwork and clinical burnout, leading to irreversible cognitive and physical effects up to and including death.¹⁴

A 2021 study revealed how long hours pose an occupational health risk that can be lethal. Results show that in 2016, 488 million people were exposed to the risks of working long hours. More than 745,000 people died that year from overwork as a result of stroke or heart disease.¹⁵

21 Tips for Coping with Money Anxiety

Coping with money anxiety symptoms can be extremely challenging and lead to desperation. Know that you can adapt healthy coping mechanisms instead of turning to maladaptive coping strategies like drinking or overeating. In fact, I spent years identifying and researching mindsets that are empirically supported to improve both mental and financial health.

The following are 21 tips for how to cope with money anxiety:

1. Shift your perspective: Try to avoid negative thoughts (fear-based or catastrophic thinking) about finances, instead focusing on abundant thinking (positive, solution-focused, and open to possibilities).
2. Improve your psychology of money: This includes your thoughts, beliefs, emotions, and behaviors around money, your relationship with money, and your behaviors in financial relationships with others.
3. Pay attention to mental health: Consider if an underlying mental health, substance use, or relationship issue is contributing to your money anxiety and if you need to address it.
4. Separate from the harmful aspects of ego: You are not your financial problems. Know that self-worth is internal, not external (title, possessions, bank account). You are innately worthy.
5. Shift from blame to responsibility: Stop blaming your parents, your partner, the economy, the government, or anyone else for your financial problems–take responsibility for your financial life. This is empowering and the only way to create change.
6. Practice “Thought Stopping”:  When you have thoughts that exacerbate your money anxiety, simply tell yourself, “STOP.” Redirect your thoughts to something else, preferably something positive.
7. Use CBT “Thought Records”: Certain cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) exercises help you to restructure negative or irrational thoughts that fuel money anxiety.
8. Improve your financial literacy: Take an online personal finance course, read financial books, listen to money podcasts, and follow financial experts on social media. Ask to meet with a representative at your bank, credit union, or consumer credit counseling service.
9. Make a budget: This is important in order to make sure you are rooted in reality. If you learn things aren’t as bad as you thought, you will feel better; if you face the reality of how bad they actually are, awareness is the first step towards improving the situation.¹⁶
10. Improve your hireability: Increase your education or training, seek vocational or career counseling, or work with a recruiter or job placement company.
11. Apply mindfulness to your financial life: Stop second-guessing the past or worrying about the future. Avoid “future tripping” or writing fiction about the unknown future. You can be responsive, rather than reactive, in financial actions and planning when you are grounded in the here and now.
12. Practice meditation: Meditation is like a reboot for the mind, body, and spirit. It can facilitate mental calmness and equanimity. It can also help you detach from ego and connect with your deeper self within, which is helpful for making more grounded and informed financial decisions.
13. Recite mantras for anxiety: These are affirmations that can be stated and repeated during meditations, or anytime you need to stop negative, catastrophic, or fear-based thinking.
14. Invest in yourself: This may be done through self-love and financial self-care. Turn down the volume of your Inner Saboteur. Become your own good parent, positive coach, and compassionate advocate.
15. Create a plan: Don’t set your own ceilings with self-limiting beliefs. Create plans for both your financial and career future goals. Even if finances are tight, making a plan to get out of debt and start saving makes you feel empowered and gives you hope.
16. Visualize a positive financial outcome: Utilize the power of self-fulfilling prophecy. Just like in sports psychology, envision yourself making your financial goals in order to increase the likelihood that you will.
17. Seek financial assistance: Seek government assistance such as public aid, social security disability, student financial aid, or local food bank services.
18. Practice gratitude: Gratitude is a practice that can shift negative thinking to positive by training your brain to look at the good parts of any situation. Gratitude and anxiety can not be experienced simultaneously.
19. Negotiate: Advocate for yourself–personally, professionally, and financially. Find your voice and ask for what you need and deserve. Use negotiation in everything from small purchases to requesting pay increases and promotions.
20. Get physical exercise: Exercise to physically release tension and anxiety; improve serotonin and dopamine levels; and reduce your risk for high blood pressure, heart disease, and diabetes. When we feel stronger physically, we feel stronger mentally.
21. Set financial boundaries in your relationships: Seek help for financial abuse. Say no as needed. Use assertive communication to set financial limits with your friends, partner, kids, and anyone with whom you have a financial relationship.

When to Seek Professional Help

Many suffer with money anxiety disorders in silence due to the shame and stigma of both mental health and financial struggle. Know that you are not alone and effective help is available. Just like seeing a doctor or dentist, therapy or counseling is a routine and preventative form of healthcare. You wouldn’t wait to see a dentist until you need a root canal, so you shouldn’t wait until you are in a crisis mode when dealing with money anxiety. If you identify with some of these symptoms of money anxiety disorders, set up a session for assessment to see if anxiety treatment would be helpful for you.

Therapy Options

There are many benefits of therapy in the treatment of money anxiety disorders. You can find the right therapist by using an online therapist directory, asking your doctor for a referral, or asking a friend or family member who they recommend.

• Therapy options for money anxiety may include:
• Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT): CBT for anxiety is one of the most empirically supported treatments for anxiety. It is based on the idea that our thoughts precede our emotions and behaviors. So, if we can restructure irrational thoughts and negative thinking, we can decrease our money anxiety.
• Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR): EMDR for anxiety is trauma-based and can be effective, even in short term counseling. It may be very helpful in treating money anxiety disorders and financially triggered PTSD.
• Dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT): DBT is a therapeutic approach aimed to help regulate one’s emotions that incorporates mindfulness, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness.
• Group therapy: Group therapy is more cost-effective than individual therapy, and can provide normalization and validation that you are not alone and others experience money anxiety similarly to you.
• Family therapy: Therapy with one or more family members can be really helpful if there are financial issues impacting your family system, or if there are financial issues in your relationships that need to be addressed.
• Financial therapy: Some therapists specialize in financial therapy and will help you explore your psychology of money and heal from past financial trauma. They can also teach you how to shift your money mindset to better manage money anxiety.
• NAMI support groups: An excellent resource for money anxiety disorders and a variety of other mental health concerns.
• Twelve Step support: There are free twelve step groups that address money issues such as Debtors Anonymous, Spenders Anonymous, Underearners Anonymous, Gamblers Anonymous, etc.

Medications

Medication can sometimes be helpful in the treatment of money anxiety disorders and related symptoms. Make sure to move past any stigma related to mental health. Think about it, you likely wouldn’t argue if your doctor wanted you to take insulin for diabetes or high blood pressure medication for heart disease. While psychiatrists and psychiatric nurses are specialists in prescribing these medications, your primary care physician or OB-GYN may also be able to help you obtain medication for anxiety.

Remember to ask your doctor to check your vitamin D and B levels and thyroid functioning, as any imbalances in these can exacerbate anxiety and depression. Also, keep in mind that anxiety may also be worsened by hormonal changes due to your mensural cycle, pregnancy, or menopause. Treatments may be available to help.

The following medications may be helpful for money anxiety:

• Antidepressants: Depression is often underlying money anxiety disorders. Certain medications for depression, such as SSRIs* and SRNIs*, may relieve many of the anxiety symptoms.
• Benzodiazepines**: These medications are helpful for treating panic attacks and can also help with sleep.
• Sleep aids: Sleep aids can help address sleep impairment caused by money anxiety.

*These medications have a black box warning, the most severe kind of warning from the FDA for the risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors in certain people. You should talk with your doctor about these risks before starting these medications

**These medications have a black box warning, the most severe kind of warnings from the FDA for abuse or misuse, risk of physical dependence, and risk of severe side effects, including death, when combined with an opioid.

Final Thoughts

Money anxiety is very common especially during these times of economic uncertainty, and can lead to serious emotional, social, physical, and financial impacts. Help is available and effective, so reach out for support, therapy or counseling, or medication. Continue learning by reading more on the topic. Be sure to then inform others who may be struggling and unaware of the causes, symptoms, and treatment for money anxiety disorders.