Money is not just math. It is emotion. It is memory. It is a story we inherit, internalize, and sometimes spend a lifetime trying to rewrite. For many people, the relationship with money is not just stressful. It is traumatic.
Financial trauma is a term that has entered mainstream psychological language in recent years, but its roots run deep. It describes the chronic emotional and psychological stress caused by experiences related to financial insecurity. This can include poverty, sudden loss of income, long term debt, housing instability, or growing up in a household where money was a constant source of conflict or fear.
According to a 2023 report by the American Psychological Association, 72 percent of adults in the United States say money is a significant source of stress. That number increases among people with marginalized identities, including Black and Indigenous communities, single parents, and LGBTQ adults. This is not just an economic issue. It is a mental health one.
Financial trauma can look like checking your bank account with a racing heart. It can look like overspending after years of deprivation. It can look like under earning despite being highly skilled because self worth has been shaped by scarcity. It can even look like never feeling safe, no matter how much you save.
In therapy, financial trauma often shows up quietly. A client might talk about burnout, relationship stress, or anxiety, but underneath it all is the silent hum of survival mode.
Late stage capitalism does not help. We are surrounded by messages that tie productivity to value, debt to shame, and success to aesthetics. The result is a collective feeling that you are somehow always behind, even if you are doing your very best.
Financial trauma is not just about what happened. It is also about what never felt possible.
If you grew up watching caregivers scramble to pay bills, you may have absorbed the idea that money is always running out. If you were told that asking for help is weakness, you may avoid financial conversations altogether. If you experienced economic instability during formative years, your nervous system might still respond to financial uncertainty with panic, even when things are objectively okay.
Healing financial trauma is not about manifesting wealth with a vision board. It is about creating safety. Not just in your bank account, but in your body.
In practice, this might include:
• Naming the patterns without judgment
• Separating your self worth from your financial status
• Exploring the origin stories of your money beliefs
• Building tolerance for financial conversations and decisions
It may also mean grieving. Grieving the career path you could not afford to pursue. Grieving the years spent working multiple jobs to survive. Grieving the relationships strained or ended by money stress.
Therapy can provide a space where you are not shamed for financial fear or avoidance. It can help you understand that chronic stress around money is not a personal failure. It is a nervous system doing what it was wired to do under pressure.
And yes, we can still make space for joy. For celebrating the small wins. For the moment you ask for a raise. For the first time you say no to something because your budget matters and so do you.
Financial trauma is real. So is your resilience.
Looking for support in navigating financial trauma or money related stress? Therapy can help you build a healthier relationship with money that centers self compassion, empowerment, and peace. You do not have to carry this alone.