How to Overcome a Traumatic Economic Situation?

Not all traumatic experiences have to do with physical violence or accidents in which there is death or serious injuries capable of leaving consequences on the body. Some of them take place in the most abstract social sphere, and among them, there is a part that is associated with one of the most real fictions: money.

And in a world in which the economy comes to mark the rhythms of people’s lifestyles and their evolution in their lifestyle, events such as losing all their savings, having to close the family business or suffering a scam can leaving a psychological mark that remains for months or even years and that, if not managed well, gives rise to mental disorders.

Therefore, in this article We will talk about traumatic situations linked to economics and how they are worked on in therapy.

What is trauma associated with economic loss?

First of all, it is important to explain what we mean by trauma. This is a type of psychological alteration that arises from an emotionally painful experience and leaves deep psychological consequences in the person. That is, it is the result of the internalization of certain memories linked to a painful event, at least psychologically (and often also physically), such as a car accident or an experience of sexual abuse.

Faced with experiences like this, these memories are “filed” in our memory in a different way than normal memories, since we tend to relive those events over and over again because they were very important to us: The brain puts us “on guard” to prevent something like this from happening again at all costs.

Now, an economic event, if it generates a lot of discomfort in us, can also be traumatic, because in many aspects, the capital we have is seen as an extension of ourselves or our families; After all, it is common to assume socioeconomic status (and the lifestyle associated with it) as a part of our identity, and in addition, it shapes certain future plans, family expectations that are very important to us, etc.

Thus, it is through the loss of a large amount of money, especially if it was unforeseen, that our lives are turned upside down and in addition to being forced to materially adapt to that crisis situation, We are forced to deal with the emotions triggered by such an intense experience.

How is this type of trauma worked on in psychotherapy?

In psychotherapy it is possible to develop the emotional management resources necessary to overcome this and other types of trauma. Let’s see how.

1. Learn to detect limiting beliefs

In a context of bankruptcy or personal or family economic crisis, it is very common for the person who suffers this experience to develop limiting beliefs associated with a very pessimistic interpretation of life (and oneself). For example: “after this I will never raise my head again”, “no one will want to be with me for having lost all that money”, or “I will always be an outcast in the eyes of my family”.

For this reason, in therapy we work with cognitive restructuring, a process through which psychologists help our patients to question their belief system and detect those unfounded ideas that they have been clinging to even though they do not fit. to reality and do them more harm than good. In the case of trauma, it is very important to let go of those limiting beliefs because They are an obstacle to overcoming the disorder and facing one’s own fears and insecurities.

2. Management of possible family tensions

Relatively often, events that drastically reduce a family’s purchasing power put some of its members under more pressure to remedy the situation; It is even possible that discomfort really arises because what happened is interpreted as a “failure” of the main provider of money, which reinforces the feeling of shame, regret for not having behaved differently, etc.

Therefore, in cases like this family therapy becomes very useful, a form of psychological intervention in which we work with the entire family at the same time (or at least the family nucleus with the individuals most involved in the problem). In this therapeutic context, work is done on conflict resolution, the creation of new ways of communicating and the generation of spaces for free expression of feelings, the readjustment of expectations, learning ways to give emotional support to others, etc.

3. Exposure in imagination

Trauma is almost always accompanied by intrusive thoughts based on past experiences that have been burned into the person’s memory.

This causes these types of memories, or an exaggerated version of memories about what happened, to emerge again and again in the consciousness of the traumatized person, who not only visualizes in his mind what happened to him in a very vivid way. , but also experiences with great intensity the emotions that it made him feel. He knows that what comes to consciousness does not occur in the present, but He can’t help but be emotionally affected, almost as if it were happening in the here and now.

To help patients who suffer from this mitigate the discomfort and get out of this vicious circle of anguish (since the expectation that these “flashbacks” are going to happen soon makes them more likely to affect the person at all times), In psychotherapy, we work with techniques used to deal with alterations associated with anxiety. One of them is controlled exposure based on imagination, in which the person is trained to develop the ability to imagine in many details what they want and then take advantage of this to help them face their fears and their most stressful or anxiety-inducing memories.

That is, you are offered psychological support and guidelines to progressively expose yourself to those contents of your memory. without letting these mental images make you lose control nor be so afraid of them that the person tries to avoid those memories (which would only serve to give them more strength and importance in that patient’s life).

4. Support and emotional management training in the development of new habits

Adapting to a crisis situation requires flexibility and developing new routines and habits. But in the cases of people with psychological disorders linked to trauma, This problem can stop them by making them focus only on their own discomfort.

Therefore, in psychotherapy patients are helped to establish these lifestyle change routines (taking into account their value system and interests), and to apply self-motivation strategies to move from words to actions. In this way, patients first get involved in simple tasks that, little by little, develop and offer new incentives and sources of motivation until they become exciting projects (personally or professionally).

That is, from the inertia of learning and carrying out certain actions, new reasons appear to keep going and continue progressing in something that has a special meaning for the person which allows you to leave the role of “passive sufferer of a traumatic experience.”

• You may be interested: “How to generate new healthy habits?”

Do you want to have professional psychological assistance?

If you are looking for psychotherapy services or psychological assistance for families and couples, I invite you to contact me.

I am a psychologist specialized in clinical and expert psychology; In therapy, I use resources and techniques belonging to the cognitive-behavioral model to help people who face problems such as low self-esteem, trauma, depression or anxiety disorders, among other common disorders. I serve both adults and adolescents in person (in my office in Castellón) or online by video call.