By Marianne Storey, CEO, Dorset Mind

THERE is a well-known correlation between mental health and debt issues. For many, January is without doubt the hardest time of year. Overspending during Christmas makes managing money even harder and worrying about the fall-out from the festive season can make people who experience poor mental health, even worse.

Half of those with problem debts also have a mental health problem. Debt has been proven to worsen mental health and mental health issues can cause serious debt. It’s an unfortunate cycle. For those people that suffer with clinical depression, or mania or hypermania for people diagnosed with bipolar disorder, uncontrollable spending sprees are a common problem (Money Saving Expert, 2016).

There are plenty of websites however, that offer advice on what to do to protect you from overspending and the worries that follow. Practical tips include keeping your receipts, keeping the tags on and eating something whilst shopping to calm you down if you’re getting frenetic and unknowingly out of control.

Many banks and building societies have signed up to the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute to help people with mental health challenges better protect their money and also be aware of the trappings of cash.

Barclays has recently launched a new feature within their mobile banking app that gives customers the ability to ‘turn off’ spending with certain types of retailers. This means any attempted payments that fall within the ‘turned off’ category will be automatically declined.

Catherine McGrath, managing director at Barclays said: “We are always looking for new ways to support our customers and make it easier for them to manage their finances. We work with a range of advisors and partners, as well as consulting with our customers, to identify how our customers’ needs are changing and what works for them. This new control feature is the latest new service that we have introduced in the Barclays Mobile Banking app that aims to give all of our customers a better way to manage their money in a simple, secure and effective way.”

Like many others who experience poor mental health, you may find it helpful to get involved in Dorset Mind's RED January campaign to encourage people, no matter how mentally healthy, to sign up and do some form of exercise every day in order to improve their mental wellbeing see dorsetmind.uk/red-january-2019-registration/

  • If you do get into trouble with money, there are organisations that can help with financial and debt advice, welfare and charitable grants, and ways to help you get back on track. See the online version for details.