Money problems aren’t just in our checkbooks, they’re in our hearts and minds, and therapy to address the real reasons we misspend is growing.
What did a recent survey find is the biggest taboo in our society? Sex? Wrong, it’s money. Twenty-two percent of people asked said they would talk about personal sexual issues with strangers, while only 16 percent said they would talk about money.
Dr. Ted Klontz, with the Georgia Institute of Technology, says that’s because money is hopelessly mixed up with deep psychological,emotional issues revolving around self image and traumatic incidents in the past. Given that, he says it’s no wonder he sees many, many people suffering from what he calls “money disorders.” Those aren’t just well known problems like compulsive gambling, but “any financial behavior that is self-destructive, self-defeating, persistent, and predictable.” They include under-spending, over-spending, workaholism and even sneakier ones like financial incest and financial infidelity.
Financial incest is pushing a financial burden on your children, for example, making them deal with a divorcedpartner when it comes to money. Financial infidelity is lying to your partner not about romance or sex, but money issue.
