Financial Phobia
What is it and do you suffer?
Financial Phobia is a newly identified psychological and physiological condition which prevents sufferers from handling their financial affairs with the same degree of competence that they handle the rest of their lives.
It is usually first apparent by the sufferer feeling anxious about the state of their finances, without any apparent cause such as problem debt or other financial problems.
Egg survey
The condition was first revealed and named in a survey for online bank Egg plc, famous for their credit card, but it's not just a piece of marketing fluff - there's real science and research behind it. The report was authored by Dr Brendan Burchell of Cambridge University, who says the condition can seriously affect a sufferer's day to day quality of life.
Symptoms
Finance-o-phobes display one or more of a clear range of behaviours that characterise the syndrome:
- Putting off opening bank statements, or in extreme cases throwing them away unopened
- Rarely or never checking bank or credit card balances
- Avoidance of dealing with personal finances in general
There are physical symptoms too, with nearly half of sufferers reporting a racing heart when faced with their finances, and a smaller proportion feeling more extreme symptoms of panic such as dizziness, nausea or even physical immobilisation.
Who suffers?
Over 9 million Britons are estimated to suffer to some extent, with 20% of adults displaying enough symptoms to form a genuine condition. Up to half of adults show mild symptoms.
Sufferers may even feel guilty about their inability to deal with their money matters, but if you have financial phobia it doesn't mean you're an irresponsible spendthrift - you may be a victim of the complexity and unpredictability of the whole area of personal finance.
Causes
It seems that the phobia is, in many cases, prompted by an unpleasant experience with finance which was not in the sufferer's control - for example, losing an investment after bad advice, or being mis-sold a product.
This can cause a reluctance to engage with your finances in the future, which grows worse in a vicious circle as neglecting your situation leads to finally tackling it seeming more and more daunting. Indeed, the state of your personal finances will probably deteriorate more and more the longer they're neglected, which can obviously build the phobia into a genuine problem.
How to deal with it
If you've reached the stage where you have a genuine phobia, then counselling may be required, but if you're suffering the earlier stages then 'biting the bullet' and trying to get your finance in order can quickly lift the anxiety, as being in control again improves your confidence.
Also, most finance-o-phobes do not have particularly bad financial situations, and help is widely available for those who do find they have problems with debt.
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