Financial pressures are having an adverse effect on Ontarians’ mental health says a recent study but experts say there are ways to keep your money stress at bay.
Ipsos polled 786 Ontarians as part of a wider national survey that was conducted between Sept. 5 and Sept. 8 of this year.
Nearly two in five Ontarians (39 per cent) that responded to the survey stated that inflation and high-interest rates have made them feel stressed, while 37 per cent said they feel anxious.
More than one quarter of respondents in Ontario said they are spending less time with friends to save money (26 per cent) while 16 per cent said they were spending less time with family to save money. About 18 per cent of respondents in Ontario said that they have an increased sense of loneliness amid rising financial pressures.
The survey results come after a historic run up in inflation that prompted the Bank of Canada to raise its key lending rate from 0.25 per cent to five per cent in less than two years, significantly increasing the cost of borrowing.
With rising costs of living layered onto higher borrowing costs, the mounting financial responsibilities for some Ontarians may seem like an individual struggle. But no issue happens in isolation, said Marnie Wedlake, a registered psychotherapist based in London, Ontario.
“The catastrophes that people are facing are not limited to those that are associated with finances, we have the climate crisis, we have major wars happening in several regions…major humanitarian crises…. So it's really hard to be in the world right now,” she told CP24.com.
Wedlake said that young Canadians today are being impacted by both immediate financial concerns and the additional challenge of navigating a job market with “crushing” amounts of student debt that she said can contribute to feelings of despair, anxiety and depression.
“It can really be hard to listen to anything on the news or look at anything in social media, without seeing something catastrophic being written about the economy,” Wedlake told CP24. “When people are bombarded with those messages all the time. It's really hard to rise up and feel good about things financially.”
It’s easy to get caught in the cycle of doom scrolling on social media—the self-perpetuating practice of obsessively checking online news for updates with the expectation that the news will be bad—but Wedlake says it’s important to check in on yourself and how you’re responding to negative messages.
If you’re at all feeling weighted down by what you’re looking at, she said that it is probably time to shut off your phone, take a break and do something else.
“Get out and move. Now, some people might choose go to a yoga class, do a meditation…others need to get out and move. Something that in some way is active and is a way of taking back that distressed emotional state and trying to change it to one that is less distressed.”
By focusing on what you can do, Wedlake says it can empower you to focus on what you are in control of in your life. But she said that anyone experiencing overwhelming emotional distress that they don’t think they can control should consider reaching out for professional help.
The Ipsos survey found that about 19 per cent of Ontarians are spending $200 or more a month in additional debt servicing costs than they were a year ago.
More than half of respondents in Ontario (52 per cent) said they were spending more time at home to save money.
Barry Choi, a Toronto-based personal finance and travel expert, told CP24 that while that might save you a few bucks it can come at the cost of your mental health.
He says if you’re trying to manage your expenses you can still enjoy yourself without blowing your budget by letting your friends know about your financial struggles and suggesting activities that don’t cost much or are free.
“Regardless of where you live, your city or community is likely hosting free events,” said Choi “Checking out your local tourism or neighbourhood website is a good place to start as they'll usually have a detailed list of free things to do.”
He adds that potlucks are always a great way to spend time with your friends without spending much.
Though personal finances, especially if you’re in piles of debt, can be anxiety-inducing to confront Choi says seeking resources such as books to inform yourself about finance can go a long way and may help to reduce any financial anxiety that you have.
Wedlake added that while financial stress “can feel impossible” at times, getting to a place where you can face those feelings head-on is the first step in coping.
“I think one of the things we want to do is say, let's acknowledge the very difficult nature of this reality that we're living in right now. Let's acknowledge it. But we want to be really careful we don't indulge it,” she said.
The margin of error for the Ipsos poll is plus or minus 2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
