How to Navigate Financial Troubles, Anger, and Relationship Issues
How to Navigate Financial Troubles, Anger, and Relationship Issues

Money plays an important role in relationships; people recognize its importance, but don’t talk about it. Consider how people with rich partners are disparagingly termed ‘gold diggers.’

This stigmatization masks the importance of money in a relationship. Food, shelter, entertainment, and much more depend on money. Without these essentials, anger and stress can begin to build. Here’s how financial troubles affect anger and cause relationship issues.

Mental Health and Financial Difficulties

Mental health and financial difficulties are inversely related. The more economic problems people face, the worse their mental health gets. This has a corresponding effect on people’s relationships. For instance, married individuals facing financial difficulties during the Great Recession had more disagreements with their partners.

These effects are fairly intuitive. If you’re not sure that you’ll have enough money for a meal or your shelter status is up in the air, you’ll be very stressed. Since stress is related to anger and relationship issues, it’s easy to generalize the effects of financial difficulties. In a relationship, both partners will be stressed, which will cause conflicts. Moreover, if you’re stressed, things are more likely to irk you, making you more prone to anger.

Debts and Stress

Debts are a source of financial difficulties, but not all of them are equivalent. For instance, student loans are legally borne by the student, irrespective of marital status. In contrast, debts taken after marriage are borne by both spouses, although the arrangements can differ. The nature of the debt alters its effects on relationships and people’s anger. In all cases, however, if you don’t have a plan to deal with the debt, it will heighten your stress and anger.

Financial Arrangements and Conflicts

Financial difficulties extend to how your money is spent or where it comes from. For instance, if much of your spending money comes from loans, “spending more than you’re earning” or similar accusations may be thrown around. The ensuant stress and anger can eventually devolve into abuse. For instance, married, female breadwinners are more prone to facing abuse from their husbands than non-married, female breadwinners.

A worried woman being comforted by another person

Management

There are a few things you can do to manage your anger and save your relationship from financial troubles. The first thing you should do is develop a plan to address whatever financial troubles you’re facing. This gets at the source of the anger and conflicts.

Secondly, you should seek out family counseling and anger management classes to help you deal with your emotions until the financial issues subside. If you’re looking for anger management classes Winder, mental illness and family counseling, and similar services in Winder, GA, contact us at Comprehensive Counseling Services. We’ll help you get through your difficulties and teach you how to handle future problems.