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Turning point: how to cope with financial losses

A financial crisis can be a turning point in life. Depression and anxiety are two of the most common consequences of financial failure. The best way to overcome losses is to be active at all levels and not give in to the natural desire to get away from problems, says business psychologist Lisa Mayer-Marachowska

researchers from the Institute of Cognitive Neurosciences of the Higher School of Economics. Worrying about money can affect your mental and physical health—there is a clear link between financial stress and your risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

Depression and anxiety are the two most common consequences of financial failure. Depressed people usually feel hopeless, helpless, have difficulty concentrating, and withdraw into themselves. Chronic anxiety increases the heart rate, leading to irritability and panic attacks.

The loss of a large sum of money can be traumatic, especially if the loss affected significant events in a person's life, such as the birth of a child, the payment of tuition, or the purchase of an apartment. We feel that we have lost control of the internal or external situation.

It is important that you take care of your mental stability during a financial downturn and actively adjust your lifestyle to keep you strong. This will help you get out of the "steep dive" faster.

The ability to maintain mental health under stress is called resilience. Scientists compare resilience to an emotional muscle that can be trained at any time. Being resilient does not mean that a person never experiences sadness, fear, or anxiety. This means that he does not get stuck in these states for a long time.

Here are seven key strategies to help you overcome financial loss.

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#1. Recognize the damage already experienced

Think about how many losses you have already experienced in your life. Self-confidence is important when we face challenges. Think encouraging thoughts like “I don’t know how yet, but I will find a solution to my problem sooner or later” or “When one door closes, another opens.”

Your thinking may be clouded by stress. You need to constantly remind yourself that you have everything you need to cope with difficult situations. Water the flowers, not the weeds. Focus on your current financial possibilities.

Business is a constant struggle, and you must love this struggle. An entrepreneur must be ready for change, said Boris Aleksandrov, president of Rostagroexport and founder of the B. Y. Alexandrov. He always believed that Russia is the best country for business, and the task of a businessman, first of all, to take place where he was born, despite the obstacles.

Recall difficult situations and difficulties that you have already successfully overcome.

This will give you the strength and self-confidence you need to face your current challenges.

#2. Don't blame yourself

Since your previous financial decisions can affect your losses today, the guilt and shame of past mistakes can become unbearably heavy. This is partly why many people who find themselves in a financial crisis feel isolated from their friends, colleagues, and relatives.

But if you feel the need to compare yourself to other people who are more successful in your opinion, then remember: you do not know how much money they really have. A posh lifestyle may actually be made up of credit cards and debt.

Try to transform your shame and guilt into active behavior. Once you break the vicious cycle of loss and self-reproach, you may find that money problems no longer seem so disastrous.

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#3. Support body and mind

Financial stress can lead you to self-destructive behavior as a reaction to the pain you have experienced. This may be overeating, uncontrolled use of drugs or alcohol. Of course, this will only make things worse.

Alcohol creates nothing but new problems. If you find that you cannot manage on your own, seek professional help. There is no weakness in accepting help from other people.

During this period, the correct daily routine, good diet, proper sleep, sufficient amount of physical exercise, calming thoughts are important. Your emotional health and long-term financial freedom should be your top priority.

#4. Be patient

Closing your eyes and suppressing your emotions is not the best choice. Most problems do not resolve themselves. In times of crisis, it is easy to lose courage and perhaps even the will to live. When we give up, we feel overwhelmed, disoriented, powerless, and helpless.

In the event of serious losses, it is generally not possible to find quick and easy solutions. It is important to accept, endure and live all the emotions and pain that arise. Negative feelings are important, right, and allowed. If you try to avoid your emotions and pain, they only get worse.

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No.

5. Learn something new

The world is changing faster than ever. Those who do not keep up with the changes will lose. Learning new skills gives you the chance to land a better paying job or even start a business in a new industry.

Gaining knowledge and skills should be part of your recovery plan. Read books where you can find inspiration. Look for your path, which gives you the strength not to give up.

#6. Be aware of the possibilities

As unpleasant as crises are, they often have a positive effect in the long run. Crises pull us out of the routine, awaken our reserves of strength, help us realize that our own limits have not yet been reached, and thus contribute to personal development.

“Keep your soul in hell and you will never die,” Vladimir Melnikov, a man of indomitable will and vitality, shared the secret of his survival in business. Despite life's obstacles and losses, he was able to grow a powerful production company, Gloria Jeans, literally from nothing. Three prison terms took almost 10 years of life from Melnikov, but they could not take away the desire to live and realize their goals. After the 2008 crisis, Gloria Jeans was able to nearly double its market share. Melnikov explains the achievements by the fact that he himself and his business live in a constant crisis.

Loss is a moment of crisis where you can find your true inner strength. Few people like change, but at this stage, you have a chance to gain new experience and see this financial crisis as an opportunity.

No. 7. Face your fears

The best way to deal with financial loss is to be active at all levels and not give in to your natural desire to get away from problems. Facing your fears means you don't put off the unpleasant, the difficult, or the things that seem hopeless or impossible.

Finally, some practical advice:

  • Develop meaningful relationships that will help you achieve your goals.
  • Stick to authentic news sources, keep a digital distance from sources of unverified information that only increase your anxiety.
  • Connect with your spiritual side, this can help you get through difficult times.

The entire history of mankind is a series of unpleasant surprises, but at the same time a unique story of growth and success. Financial crises become turning points in life. Things are rarely as bad as they seem.

The opinion of the editors may not coincide with the point of view of the author

how lack of money affects the brain and how to get rid of it

Tamara Fedorova

plunged into research

Author profile

Many people think in order to fight poverty you need to work on psychological attitudes.

They are sure that it is enough to learn the right financial thinking, and the money will flow by itself. But poverty is not always due to financial mistakes. Very often it turns into a vicious circle, from which it is impossible to get out even with a strong desire. This is partly due to what the lack of resources does to human biology.

What do you learn

  • What is poverty stress
  • How a lack of money affects the brain
  • How a lack of money affects the solutions
  • How to deal with poverty stress

What is poverty stress

“My annual salary exceeds 700 000 $⁣ (59 859 000 R). My latest book series on quantitative finance has just been released internationally. But all this is not enough,” Christian Cooper, a well-known financier and member of the American Council on Foreign Relations, wrote in his essay “Why Poverty is Like a Disease”. He admitted that he lives in constant stress - because of the fear of returning to hungry times. He decided not to have children, partly because he never feels financially secure.

Cooper was the eldest child in a large family that did not even have enough money for food. He studied at an illegal Christian school, there were no teachers, only the preacher's wife occasionally taught lessons. His classmates lived in the same conditions, many of them died long ago from a heroin overdose. But Cooper survived - when he was 15, a local college professor took him under his wing. He helped him get an education and get a job.

What Cooper is experiencing is called financial anxiety. It is common to almost all people, but sometimes it becomes so strong that it is more like post-traumatic disorder.

Community 08/24/21

How to get rid of the idea that there is not enough money?

Even if the money problem is solved, this anxiety does not always go away. The point is that poverty is much more than just a lack of resources. Its influence on life is so great that many processes in the body change under its influence.

The main mechanism that turns poverty into a physiological problem is stress. It has evolved to bring the nervous system into a mobilized state: cortisol levels, blood pressure and heart rate increase. Blood rushes to the muscles, they are tense and ready for increased stress. This helps a person to respond more successfully to threats.

But if the nervous system is constantly excited, it exhausts the body and restructures its work. Stress becomes chronic. This is what makes the stress of poverty so dangerous - it never recedes and does not give a rest: if you do not solve financial problems, they approach with even more terrifying proportions.

Poverty increases the risk of almost every problem a person may face: obesity and diabetes, cancer, depression and anxiety, heart disease, dementia, loneliness and early death. Sometimes 10 times.

Stress as a Mechanism for the Harmful Effects of Poverty on Children - American Psychological Association

Blockade - in the illness of our grandchildren - isrageo. com

These risks do not disappear completely, even when the need is no more. And often they are even inherited. A study of Leningrad blockade survivors showed that even their grandchildren and great-grandchildren still have an increased risk of obesity, osteochondrosis, heart disease, and dental pathologies.

Approximately the same conclusions were reached by researchers who studied the consequences of a hungry winter 1944-1945 in Holland. Children born during this period had an increased risk of various diseases throughout their lives, and their career successes, as a rule, were more modest than those who were born in a quieter time.

Hunger is an extreme manifestation of poverty. In order for the stress of poverty to affect health, it is enough just to have a lack of resources. Some changes appear even before birth.

How poverty affects the brain

The paradox of poverty stress is that it begins to destroy health and psyche before a person realizes that he is poor. Studies have shown that chronic stress in a pregnant woman leads to changes in the development of the baby's brain. Due to constant tension, the secretion of hormones involved in emotions, cognition and behavior changes. The consequences can manifest themselves in infancy, and can persist for life in the form of anxiety, depression, aggression, hyperactivity, and low stress tolerance. If a deficient environment persists after birth, this exacerbates the problems.

In 2015, Columbia University neuroscientist Kimberly Noble published a study that analyzed MRI scans of more than a thousand children. She found that those who lived in poverty had, on average, 6% less cortical area than children from wealthy families.

Family Income, Parental Education, and Brain Structure in Children and Adolescents - nature.com

How Income Affects Children's Brain Development - ted.com

This part of the brain is responsible for much of the cognitive work. Tests showed that participants in the experiment from poor families are worse at reading, concentrating, remembering and having a smaller vocabulary. Noble sums up: by the age of two, differences in the brains of the rich and the poor become noticeable. On average, the results of cognitive tests of a child from a needy family will be 60% lower.

Source: Nature

What exactly leads to this result, scientists do not yet know. Noble has two theories. Firstly, this may be due to the fact that wealthy families invest more in the educational environment. Secondly, financial stress often leads to less warm relationships in the family. If a parent has to work at several jobs, it is unlikely that he will have the opportunity to spend a lot of time with a child.

But, of course, it is not only the cerebral cortex that changes because of poverty. There is also evidence that financial difficulties reduce gray matter volume and interfere with the related work of different parts of the brain. In addition, chronic stress negatively affects the work of the hippocampus and amygdala, which are responsible for memory and emotional reactions.

/list/biases-and-money/

6 cognitive biases that make us spend more

Source: IRP

However, Kimberley Noble notes that the effect of poverty on the brain is not always the same. Her research reflects only general trends, of which there are many exceptions. For example, she has seen many poor children whose brains are no different from those of their wealthy peers. Need is a risk factor for cognitive decline, but some lucky people manage to avoid it.

In such cases, language development may have played a role. If a parent talks to a child a lot, it has been proven to increase cognitive abilities in adulthood. Noble urges to talk more with children and discuss important issues with them more often.

Second Year Language Experience and Late Childhood Language Outcomes - pediatrics.aappublications.org

How Poverty Affects Decisions

Financial hardship increases the risk of highly irrational decisions. The thing is that stress makes attention tunnel: a person is extremely focused on one problem and loses sight of other important details. He can quickly solve a specific financial problem, but use an inadequate amount of resources for this and thereby create a new problem.

Scientists from several universities, including Harvard and Princeton, demonstrated how this works in a series of experiments.

How Poverty Changes the World - review.chicagobooth.edu

Participants in one experiment played a game similar to Angry Birds. They were divided into two groups: "rich" players - they had a large number of attempts to hit the target, and "poor" players - they had only a few attempts. Initially, it was assumed that the "rich" would show better results - after all, they have more chances to train accuracy. But the result was the opposite: players with a small number of attempts were able to hit the target more accurately, although it took them much longer to calculate each shot. But when the "poor" were given the opportunity to "take" the number of attempts, their accuracy evaporated. In addition, many borrowed disproportionately.

Another conclusion of the study is that the lack of resources significantly increases the cognitive load on a person. "Rich" players are much less tired of games, despite a large number of attempts, than "poor" players, who had to spend a lot of energy on each step. In real life, in conditions of financial difficulties, the same thing happens. Every small decision - like going to the grocery store - requires a lot of analysis, because the consequences of a rash decision can be too severe. Moreover, the cognitive load increases even when a hypothetical financial problem needs to be solved.

Researchers surveyed shopping mall visitors in the United States, including people with above average incomes and those who barely had enough for basic things. Each of them was asked a question: you need to spend 150 $⁣ (10,900 R) to repair the car, what will you do - pay the full amount, borrow money or not repair at all?

Ildar Shafir Analysis: DeficitPDF, 251 KB

At the same time, respondents were asked to play computer games that assessed their cognitive abilities. At this stage, there was no difference in the results of the rich and the poor.

But then the respondents were asked to answer the same question, but the repair price increased to $1,500⁣ (R108,988). Considering the answer to this question, wealthy players showed the same results, but the results of people with financial difficulties deteriorated significantly. Measurements showed that their IQ level decreased by an average of 13 points. For comparison: a sleepless night reduces the level of intelligence by an average of 10 points. The entire concentration of this group of participants was aimed at solving a complex financial problem, because of this it was almost impossible to think about anything else.

Experiments with Indian farmers showed similar results. They were tested on cognitive abilities before the harvest - when many of them were already running out of money - and after, when their labor was paid. In the second case, the majority showed much higher results.

/list/money-and-happiness/

Is it possible to buy happiness: what science says on this topic , leads to the fact that they often make suboptimal decisions. Their brain is always busy solving pressing money problems, and this cannot but take a huge amount of energy. As a result, there is less time and energy left for communication with children, for everyday life and for work itself. Over time, fatigue only accumulates, this leads to even more bad decisions and problems with mental and physical health.

How to deal with the consequences of poverty

Scholars who study poverty agree that centralized programs supported by the authorities are needed to combat it. But what these programs should be is a matter of controversy.

Ildar Shafir believes that it is very important for the government to reduce the cognitive load of poor people. For example, social services will be useful to support low-income parents: sometimes babysitting is the best help. And getting financial assistance from the state should be easy: if you have to stand in long lines and submit dozens of applications, this only exacerbates the problem.

The Psychology of Deficiency - American Psychological Association

New Attempt to See How Poverty Affects the Young Brain - nytimes.com

Kimberly Noble believes that poverty and its associated health problems can be significantly reduced with regular payments. She is currently participating in the First Years of Life research program. A thousand pregnant women living below the poverty line were attracted to participate in it. Within five years after the birth of a child, they will be paid money, increasing their monthly income by 20-25%. Noble is going to analyze how this will affect the development of children and their stress levels.

Neither Shafir nor Noble give advice on how to get out of poverty. Christian Cooper, a successful financier with financial anxiety, says that all success stories are first of all rare luck, and not the result of incredible work on yourself. What can really help is financial literacy and the desire to save at least a small amount, as well as skills to manage the stress of poverty.

Approximately the same advice can be given to those who no longer live in poverty, but still worry too much about money. Noble says: a poor childhood is not a sentence, and reminds of neuroplasticity. The human brain is capable of changing in response to new experiences at any age. For example, research shows that psychotherapy sessions help reduce financial anxiety among low-income people. Here are some exercises that may be helpful.

/psychotherapy/

How much does psychotherapy cost?

How to worry less about money . True, it is not so easy to start taking care of yourself. For people with financial difficulties, any question related to money is unsettling. For example, as soon as they decide to buy something for their own pleasure, pangs of conscience begin. This condition should not be ignored.

Better take a break and to return to this in a calm mood. Resistance reinforces negative emotions, and in such a situation, none of the methods listed below will be helpful.

Determine if you are truly poor. Poverty, in which people cannot afford basic things, is still common, and this is a big problem. But often in my practice there are situations when people simply ignore the benefits they have. To be more objective, determine which of these statements is closer to you:

  1. I only have enough for food.
  2. I have the opportunity to purchase slightly more expensive products.
  3. I can buy household appliances. This will be noticeable for my budget, but I will not have to suffer and seek funds.
  4. I have enough money to buy a new car without a loan.
  5. I can buy an apartment, a house and luxury items.

Only the first item from this list characterizes a difficult financial situation. If you chose another, then everything is not so bad. Often there are disturbing ideas: "not enough" or "could be better." This is no reason to ignore the good. Realize how much good you have from a material point of view.

Go ahead and answer the question: what good did you get from having a poor childhood? Perhaps you have learned to sew or be independent. Surely this brings you its bonuses today.

Explain the concepts of poverty and wealth. Answer the question: how does it feel to be poor in your understanding? For example, it is important for you to have a car, then write: “If I am poor, I cannot buy a car” and so on. The list must contain more than three items. Finish and set aside this work for a day or two, and then look at your list from the side, as if someone else had compiled it. You may consider these points irrelevant to your life now.

Now answer the question: Who is a rich person? Also, three points is enough. Do not use abstract language like “a rich person is someone who can afford everything”, but specific ones. Let's say "he buys expensive bread and does not suffer from the high cost of the product."

You may suddenly realize that some of the points are already quite capable of being implemented. It might be worth doing this. This will help to make sure that this is already a fact of reality. Only in this way will the understanding come that you are not who you were before.

Estimate how much your time is worth. Low-income people tend to devalue their time. And it definitely costs money, albeit a little. When working under a contract, when there are fixed monthly payments, it is easier to determine the cost per hour. It is more difficult to do this on freelance, but it is also real.

Why do you need to know this at all? Through this technique comes an understanding of whether, for example, it is necessary to spend half a day on a trip to another part of the city in order to save three rubles on the purchase of goods. Also, this practice will allow you to more objectively assess the benefits and risks of a loan.

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