So, if you are struggling to keep control of your income and expenditure, you may find that your mental health is affected. Likewise, if you find that you cannot cope with your feelings or behaviour, your finances may get neglected.
This section explains how mental health can affect your finances, and gives tips on how to manage your money if you do experience mental distress.
Mental health problems are common. Unfortunately, if you become unwell you may neglect your personal finances and create more difficulties for you to tackle when you recover. Alternatively, if you are living with a diagnosis such as dementia, you may worry about how you and your family will cope when your illness gets worse.
Mental health problems can impact your finances in many ways.
The stress and worry associated with trying to maintain control over your expenditure and keep your household running on an even keel can result in:
Even when you are dealing with your mental health problems, there may be issues that you encounter.
It might be useful to talk to your GP or prescribing doctor about the side effects of your medication. It is possible that some of the symptoms might be short-term, or that medication can be reduced to get the balance between reducing unwanted symptoms and experiencing unpleasant side effects.
You could also consider contacting your bank or financial institution to alert them to the issues that you are experiencing and ask if they have options to help if you have problems signing, or using 'chip and pin' or cash machines.
It might help to try and time your shopping or banking for quieter periods so that you have time to sign or use the machines at your own pace. If you are able, try a few different shops until you find supportive staff or a local shop where staff can get to know you.
Good financial planning can often become derailed when you are faced with an unexpected event or your mental health is under threat. Knowing your legal rights - or at least where to go for further help - is vital in order to keep problems to a minimum and avert a crisis. Sharing your problems with people you trust - and making the effort to seek out expert advice and information - can help you identify a realistic strategy for managing your situation more effectively.
Mind's booklet Looking after your personal finances explains your rights and what you can do to deal with financial problems caused by your mental health.
If you sometimes lack the capacity to manage your finances when you are not feeling mentally well, there are steps that you can take to plan your finances in advance. Looking after your personal finances explains your options.
Mind also has information on the legal aspects of financial decisions and mental capacity.
The Mental Health Foundation has just published information about how the Mental Capacity Act can help people with mental health problems and people with learning disabilities as customers of banks or building societies.
Under the terms of the Act people should be assumed to be capable of making a particular financial decision unless it is proved otherwise, and they should be offered all appropriate support to do so. 'Banking on good decisions' outlines these and other key principles of the Act, and explains what someone should do if they feel the law is not being properly followed.
There are three versions:
They can be downloaded for free from The Mental Health Foundation's new mental capacity web pages at: http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/mental-capacity. The Easier Read version is on the website for the Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities at: www.learningdisabilities.org.uk. The booklet and Easier Read are also available in hard copy. If you would like a copy or to make a bulk order (for which there is a charge) please call The Mental Health Foundation on 020 7803 1101 or email them at info@mhf.org.uk.