Mental Health or Financial Wealth – What’s More Important?

Financial wellness and mental wellness are intertwined with each other. Being financially healthy is a critical piece of total wellbeing. How? Let’s find out.

Financial and mental health are very much interlinked. Both of these are crucial aspects of an employee’s life. It is safe to say that taking care of one will ultimately lead to the betterment of the other. Financial health refers to the monetary gains and absence of money-related problems in a person’s life. Being in a stable financial situation resolves most of the problems of an individual, as they are in control of their finances and therefore at peace, mentally! Mental wellness on the other hand is quite subjective. According to experts, poor mental health often results in a lack of financial management skills.

Individuals are not able to utilise their monetary gains efficiently due to the same. Managing and earning becomes difficult if someone is going through a mental health crisis. This in turn leads to financial instability. According to the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute, “Money and mental health can feed off of each other, creating a vicious cycle of growing financial problems and worsening mental health which is hard to escape.” A survey conducted by them showed around 86 percent of respondents experiencing mental health problems, agreeing that their financial condition made their mental health worse. 

Working individuals constitute a major chunk of the population of our country. With the pandemic disrupting lives and hindering basic working mechanisms, mental health went for a toss for many. Either the workers themselves or their dependents got admitted to the hospital. This resulted in increased medical bills and decreased savings. Many people could not afford treatments and lost their jobs too. This is a small example of how both are intertwined with each other. 

Also read: Mental Health: 6 Ways to Address the Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic (allthingstalent.org)

Since the cost of living is on the rise, employees are often not satisfied with their salaries, or are underpaid, according to many surveys. To maintain one’s standard of living, one also sometimes resorts to earning through unfair means. This creates stressful living conditions for the longer run. Further, financial management skills are not taught in our education system. When these adults start earning, they often splurge on unnecessary items. This habit is inculcated very early on and they get stuck in a loop. Many times, individuals do not understand the basics of investments and savings and thus have a shortage of the same.   

For the working class, not knowing if they have enough to provide for their family and save at the same time, could be a cause for concern. Mental health can stagger in conditions where financial resources are minimal. Experts have opined that financial problems can cause chronic illnesses. Stress and fatigue are common in people belonging to the working class. Piling bills, not being able to afford a certain standard of living can create anxiety and increase stress levels in a person’s life. It can also lead to depression and suicidal tendencies, if not checked and treated. Financial stress often envelops a person’s life so much that they are unable to not think about it and lose their sleep over the same. It can also lead to feelings of being alienated and restricted social engagements. Over time, all these factors result in the deterioration of a person’s mental health.

“Financial stress often envelops a person’s life so much that they are unable to not think about it and lose their sleep over the same. It can also lead to feelings of being alienated and restricted social engagements. Over time, all these factors result in deterioration of a person’s mental health.”

The relationship between mental and financial health is deep-rooted and very complex. An increase in financial stress can also affect an employees’ productivity. It could be the reason for someone over-working themself. It creates an unhealthy work environment and the possibility of thriving and being an asset for the organisation gets eliminated. Absenteeism increases and efficiency takes a hit. With poor physical and mental health, any employee starts becoming a liability for their workplace because they are unable to put their best foot forward. 

People stuck in mental health crises tend to take job opportunities without thinking them through. This eventually results in them being underpaid and sidelined because their goals are reframed accordingly and their growth is hindered in their professional lives. Because of depression or anxiety, an employee may doubt himself or herself time and again. The inability to put one’s hundred percent in whatever they do could pose a bigger problem. The negligence associated with mental health issues adds fuel to the fire. 

Also read: Mental Health: Awareness to Action (allthingstalent.org).

Not many employees openly talk about their financial or mental health issues at work. Lack of awareness and shame attached to both are very prominent reasons for the same. Gender too plays an important role as men are expected to earn and provide for women and not vice-versa. The stigma and frowned upon behaviour attached to low-income levels are significantly unavoidable. Men are generally at the receiving end of the same. 

To sum up, financial and mental health are two sides of the same coin. Lack in one automatically creates a void in the other. Both are important for an employee to thrive and grow in their personal and professional capacity. A financial blanket is integral to taking care of mental needs. Similarly, sound mental health is required to earn a living. They balance each other and are prominent in an employees’ life.